Richard Durst is an academic administrator who served as the eighth and last president of Baldwin-Wallace College located in Berea, Ohio.

Prior to that, he was Dean of the College of Fine and Performing Arts (1996–2000) and Special Assistant to the Chancellor (1997–2000) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Durst served as Dean of the School of Fine Arts at the University of Minnesota, Duluth from 1989 to 1996, where he was full professor and then department chair before that.

Additionally, Durst has served as executive director of the International Council of Fine Arts Deans (ICFAD); he is a Past President of both the United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT) and the International Organization of Scenographers, Theatre Architects and Technicians (OISTAT), whose world headquarters are in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

On February 11, 2012, it was announced Baldwin–Wallace College will become Baldwin Wallace University after approval by the BW Board of Trustees.