Neil Hoffman, a three-time college president and lifelong advocate for the arts and community arts education, has been appointed the next president of the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD). He will begin working at Wisconsin's only independent, four-year college of art and design on June 1.

Hoffman has twice served at the Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles, as president from 1993-2000 and as dean and chief executive officer from 1979-'83, during which time he converted the then two-year publicly operated college to a comprehensive, independent four-year college. In between his positions at Otis, he served from 1985-'93 as president of the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland.

Hoffman succeeds Mary C. Schopp, who has served as MIAD's acting president since Robert Rindler's resignation in August 2006. She will return to her former position of executive vice president. Hoffman and his wife, Sue, plan to attend Creative Fusion, a new celebratory benefit at the college, on May 5.