After nearly a decade of leadership as chair of the Yale School of Drama’s Acting Department, Lloyd Richards Professor Ron Van Lieu will be succeeded at the end of this academic year by Associate Chair of Acting Walton Wilson.

In a Thursday press release, School of Drama Dean James Bundy and Deputy Dean Victoria Nolan announced Wilson’s appointment, stating that Wilson will formally assume his new position on July 1, 2014. His predecessor, Van Lieu, has been serving as department Chair since 2004. Over the past 35 years, his students have gone on to win Academy Awards, Tony’s, Pulitzer Prizes, Emmy’s and Golden Globes, among other awards.

“The individuality, creativity, resilience, and professional accomplishment of actors who have graduated from the School of Drama since [Van Lieu’s] arrival—and of those actors who are among us now—are the vital signs of the department’s strength,” Bundy said in the email.

Prior to becoming Acting Department chair, Wilson had been a Voice teacher and coach at Yale since 1999 and an Associate Chair of the Acting Department since 2004. During his time at Yale, Wilson has served as a Voice and Dialect coach for sixteen Yale Repertory Theatre’s productions.

“[Wilson] serves the School and Yale Rep with tireless discernment and generosity of spirit that wholly qualify him to assume leadership of a department with more than 20 faculty members and nearly 50 students,” Bundy said in the email.

After stepping down from his current position, Van Lieu will continue to be a full-time professor in the School of Drama’s Acting Department.

Wilson and Van Lieu could not be reached for comment.

ERIC XIAO