On Wednesday the American Academy in Rome announced that Adele Chatfield-Taylor — its president of 25 years who revealed earlier this year that she would be stepping down — will be succeeded by Mark Robbins, an alumnus of the coveted fellowship program from 1997.

After searching far and wide, the Academy’s trustee search committee chose Robbins in part for his well-rounded experience in both the arts and academia. He began his career in arts administration at the Wexner Center for Arts in Ohio as curator of architecture in 1993 and was then recruited by the National Endowment for the Arts in 1999 to be their director of the design arts. In 2004, Robbins became the dean at the School of Architecture and a university senior advisor for architecture and urban initiatives at Syracuse University. He is currently the executive director of the International Center of Photography in New York City.

“We are very proud of Mark’s outstanding and dedicated service to the many entities he has led, and we are delighted that he is returning to the Academy, where as a Fellow, he was memorable,” Chatfield-Taylor said in a statement. “Mark is one of the most enterprising and original figures of his generation. He is fascinated by the work of both artists and scholars, especially in the fields of our fellowships, and he will bring a fresh take to many sectors of our life. I look forward to working closely with him during the transition, and know he will take our beloved institution to a whole new level of excellence.”

Robbins begins his tenure at the American Academy in January 2014.