Ruki Neuhold-Ravikumar will be the Interim Director of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

The Acting Under Secretary for Education will return to New York May 15 to assume leadership of the Cooper Hewitt.

Neuhold-Ravikumar has served as the Acting Under Secretary for Education for the Smithsonian since November 2019.

“Ruki has done a tremendous job in the Acting USE role.” Kevin Gover, Under Secretary for Museums and Culture, said in his announcement. “She is a thoughtful strategic partner at the leadership level who has proposed innovative ways to think about education at the Smithsonian, and she has navigated the central education units through the incredible challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. Further, when we found ourselves unexpectedly in a purely virtual environment, Ruki and her team pivoted overnight to make an unprecedented amount of Smithsonian content digitally available to teachers, parents, and students through our Learning Lab platform. We are incredibly grateful to Ruki for this hard work and leadership.”

Neuhold-Ravikumar stepped into the Acting USE role from her position as Director of Education at Cooper Hewitt. As Director of Education, she drew on her international experiences in design practice and teaching to develop innovative programs for diverse audiences nationwide.

Prior to joining the Smithsonian in 2017, Ruki, an award-winning designer, was Associate Dean and professor of graphic design at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond, Oklahoma. She has served in leadership roles at all levels of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA), and in 2015, was awarded the title of AIGA Fellow for advocacy and leadership as a design educator.

“Given Ruki’s deep roots in design and her demonstrated leadership, we know she will do an excellent job as the Interim Director of Cooper Hewitt, and we are grateful for her willingness to step into the role,” Gover concluded.

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