A Graduate of School of Education alumnus will join the Harvard University Arts Museums (HUAM) in a newly-created position as its first Director of Education—charged with getting a wider swath of Harvard to the University’s collections.

Ray Williams will assume the newly created position on Jan. 14, and will be responsible for reinventing and structuring the Department of Education at HUAM.

“One of his primary tasks will be to figure out what kind of Education Department we need,” said HUAM Director Thomas W. Lentz. “What we have now will change in shape and name as well.”

The expansion of HUAM’s educational resources is motivated by the museums’ goals to make their collections more known and comprehensible to the public.

“Even with the environment of the University with a lot of bright and educated people, art museums are not fully understood by everybody,” said Lentz. “Ultimately our goal is to make the collections more accessible and put them to use for students, faculty and the community we serve.”

Lentz said that works of art can be powerful educational tools, and he is confident that Williams is the right person to drive that message home to students and faculty.

“He has been an innovative thinker on how to engage under served audiences,” said Lentz. “He is good at translating ideas and making them accessible.”

Williams, who is currently the director of education at the Rhode Island School of Design Museum, was previously the director of education at the Peabody Essex Museum and also the head of education at the Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery at the Smithsonian, where he and Lentz were colleagues.

Williams could not be reached for comment over the weekend.