Keeril Makan has been appointed vice provost for the arts at MIT, effective Feb. 1. In this role, Makan, who is the Michael (1949) and Sonja Koerner Music Composition Professor at MIT, will provide leadership and strategic direction for the arts across the Institute. 'Keeril's record of accomplishment both as an artist and an administrative leader makes him exceedingly qualified to take on this important role,' Chandrakasan wrote, noting that Makan 'has repeatedly taken on new leadership assignments with skill and enthusiasm.' Makan's appointment follows the publication last September of the final report of the Future of the Arts at MIT Committee. At MIT, the report noted, 'the arts thrive as a constellation of recognized disciplines while penetrating and illuminating countless aspects of the Institute's scientific and technological enterprise.' Makan will build on this foundation as MIT continues to strengthen the role of the arts in research, education, and community life. As vice provost for the arts, Makan will provide Institute-wide leadership and strategic direction for the arts, working in close partnership with academic leaders, arts units, and administrative colleagues across MIT, including the Office of the Arts; the MIT Center for Art, Science and Technology; the MIT Museum; the List Visual Arts Center; and the Council for the Arts at MIT. His role will focus on strengthening connections between artistic practice, research, education, and community life, and on supporting public engagement and interdisciplinary collaboration....

MIT Provost Cynthia Barnhart has announced that Vice Provost for the Arts Philip S. Khoury will step down from the position on Aug. 31. Khoury, the Ford International Professor of History, served in the role for 19 years. After a sabbatical, he will rejoin the faculty in the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (SHASS). 'Since arriving at MIT in 1981, Philip has championed what he calls the Institute's 'artistic ecosystem,' which sits at the intersection of technology, science, the humanities, and the arts. Thanks to Philip's vision, this ecosystem is now a foundational element of MIT's educational and research missions and a critical component of how we advance knowledge, understanding, and discovery in service to the world,' says Barnhart. Khoury was appointed associate provost in 2006 by then-MIT president Susan Hockfield, with a double portfolio enhancing the Institute's nonacademic arts programs and beginning a review of MIT's international activities. Those programs include the List Visual Arts Center, the MIT Museum, the Center for Art, Science and Technology (CAST), and the Council for the Arts at MIT (CAMIT). After five years, the latter half of this portfolio evolved into the Office of the Vice Provost for International Activities....

I am a lifelong martial artist who grew up training in both taekwondo and karate. During a pivotal point in graduate school, I realized that the study of martial arts helped me better understand political philosophy ' and that revelation inspired this course. Southern California contains a unique hub of martial artists, many of whom studied with Bruce Lee. When I was working on my doctorate at The Claremont Colleges, I discovered an exceptional school just down the street from campus and began to study Filipino martial arts, Lee's Jeet Kune Do, and Rickson Gracie Jiu Jitsu. My teacher, Guro Jason Cruz, refined the method of training the body with the training of the mind in a way that is still unmatched. At the time, I was studying political philosophy and education in ancient Greece, including the significance of the 'palaestra' and the 'gymnasia,' which were sites for boxing, wrestling and the pankration ' a practice akin to mixed martial arts today ' but also intellectual cultivation....

Artist and designer Es Devlin is the recipient of the 2025 Eugene McDermott Award in the Arts at MIT. The $100,000 prize, to be awarded at a gala in her honor, also includes an artist residency at MIT in spring 2025, during which Es Devlin will present her work in a lecture open to the public on May 1, 2025. Devlin's work explores biodiversity, linguistic diversity, and collective AI-generated poetry, all areas that also are being explored within the MIT community. She is known for public art and installations at major museums such as the Tate Modern, kinetic stage designs for the Metropolitan Opera, the Super Bowl, and the Olympics, as well as monumental stage sculptures for large-scale stadium concerts. 'I am always most energized by works I have not yet made, so I am immensely grateful to have this trust and investment in ideas I've yet to conceive,' says Devlin. 'I'm honored to receive an award that has been granted to so many of my heroes, and look forward to collaborating closely with the brilliant minds at MIT.'...