I am delighted to announce Diyan Achjadi as Interim Dean of the Faculty of Culture + Community (CAC). This appointment is effective immediately for a limited term of two years.

Diyan is an accomplished educator, administrator and interdisciplinary artist. Born in Jakarta, Indonesia, her formative years were spent moving between multiple educational, political and cultural systems. After earning a BFA from the Cooper Union in New York and an MFA from Montreal’s Concordia University, she moved to Vancouver and joined Emily Carr University in 2005.

At ECU, Diyan began working with her colleagues in Print to transform the curriculum and support printmaking as an expanded material practice. She was promoted to associate professor in 2009, became a full professor in 2020, and has provided extensive service to the university at all levels of governance. Diyan has long been committed to our Foundation program, where she has served as Assistant Dean, facilitated core curricular change, and led out on the last cycle of academic program review.

Diyan has exhibited widely at galleries and film festivals across Canada and beyond. Recent projects include Hush, an animation commissioned by the Libby Leshgold Gallery for the City of Vancouver’s Public Art Program; NonSerie (In Commute), part of How far do you travel?, a year-long exhibition on the exterior of public buses, commissioned by the Contemporary Art Gallery (CAG) in partnership with TransLink; and Coming Soon!, a monthly series of prints installed at sites slated for construction and development, commissioned by the City of Vancouver’s Public Art Program.

Earlier this year, Diyan was a recipient of the VIVA Award from the Jack and Doris Shadbolt Foundation. You can learn more about Diyan and her expansive practice in a recent ECU News story.

Diyan is an exemplary leader and a transformative and celebrated artist. She will be a great advocate for the Faculty of Culture + Community and all of its program areas.

Please join me in congratulating Diyan and welcoming her to this role.

Best,

Trish Kelly
VP Academic + Provost