Dr. Trish Kelly

Dr. Trish Kelly was appointed President + Vice-Chancellor at Emily Carr University of Art + Design in June
of 2024, after serving in the interim capacity for one year. Prior to that, she held a series of
administrative roles at the institution, including Vice President Academic + Provost (2019-23), and
Associate Dean of Graduate Studies (2017-19). Kelly holds a PhD from the University of British Columbia,
an MA from Tufts University, and a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. Before coming to ECU in
2011, she was an Associate Professor at DePaul University in Chicago, and the Chair of the Universitywide Honours Program.
As an art historian and educator, Kelly’s writings on contemporary art have been published in various
peer-reviewed venues including Art Journal, American Art, the Journal of Curatorial Studies, and The
Sixties: A Journal of History, Politics, and Culture. Her research involves a range of subjects including
minimal art and abstraction, art and politics, alternative art networks, and time and duration in new
media production. Throughout, an interest in viewership, and artmaking as a critical form of knowledge
production, is central. Her current book project, On-Site: Art, Politics, and Viewers (New York, circa
1970), explores modes of critical and embodied viewership explored in artist run-centres and alternative
art networks of the early 1970s.
Kelly is committed to collaborative and inclusive leadership models, and service in the public sector. She
has served on various Boards and advisory committees, including the Food Stash Foundation, which
champions food security, zero waste, and sustainable agriculture; and the Academic Governance and
Strategic Planning Committee of the CDM (Centre for Digital Media, Vancouver BC), which fosters
partnerships between post-secondary institutions. Additionally, she has been an active member of
AICAD (the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design), serving on the DEI Task Force and
helping to develop and implement the AICAD BIPOC Academic Leadership Institute