JULY 8, 2022 — UTSA has established the search advisory committee to initiate a nationwide search for the founding director of the new school of art being created as a result of the university’s merger of the Southwest School of Art (SSA).
Organized within the College of Liberal and Fine Arts (COLFA), the school will be the administrative home for the university’s current undergraduate and graduate degrees in studio art and art history, as well as for the minor in museum studies.
The process to select the initial name of the new school now is underway; a name will be announced later this summer.
“We are excited to convene the search advisory committee and identify a founding director who shares our commitment to expand visual and creative arts education and student learning,” said COLFA Dean Glenn Martínez. “Since our institutions announced the merger last summer, SSA faculty and faculty in the UTSA Department of Art and Art History have worked collaboratively to develop a new Bachelor of Fine Arts curriculum that is focused on interdisciplinarity and career-engaged artistic formation.”
Martínez added, “The new founding director will champion this collective vision, while also seeking new opportunities for fine arts expansion while preserving SSA’s tremendous legacy.”
The search advisory committee will be chaired by Lisa Montoya, vice provost for global initiatives, and Tracy Cowden, director of the UTSA Department of Music will serve as co-chair.
Committee members include the following:
Additionally, several leaders in the San Antonio arts community will join the committee as resource members:
“We are incredibly grateful to these community leaders, as well as the faculty and staff, who are supporting this important process,” said UTSA Provost and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs Kimberly Andrews Espy. “SSA has played such an important role in our San Antonio community, and having community participation in this process to help identify leadership of our new school is a critical element to its future success.”
Last month, UTSA announced it had selected executive search firm Koya Partners to assist with the search. Founded in 2004, Koya has conducted over a thousand executive searches for mission-driven organizations across the U.S. and around the world.
Koya managing director Naree W.S.Viner will oversee the process with her team. To kick off the development of the position profile, the search firm will engage with community and university stakeholders to identify their aspirations and characteristics desired in the new school leader.
The search process will afford multiple opportunities to meet and interact with candidates, as well as provide input into the selection.
UTSA Today is produced by University Communications and Marketing, the official news source of The University of Texas at San Antonio. Send your feedback to news@utsa.edu. Keep up-to-date on UTSA news by visiting UTSA Today. Connect with UTSA online at Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Instagram.
San Antonio’s treasured Asian Festival returns on Saturday, May 27, 2023, at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) Downtown Campus. In observance of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month the one-day performance, entertainment, and food event will celebrate the diverse Asian diaspora represented in South Texas and San Antonio. Come and enjoy one of San Antonio’s premier family-friendly events, with hands-on activities and opportunities to learn through experience.
UTSA Downtown CampusThe Texas Coalition for Heritage Spanish (TeCHS) seeks to provide a cooperative platform to support the success of Spanish heritage language speakers and their communities in Texas, assisting and promoting bicultural and bilingual development in the state.
River Walk Room (DBB 1.124,) Durango Building, Downtown CampusDr. Michael Doyle has had an immense impact on the field of catalysis and organic chemistry. Join in a one-day symposium. In order to honor Dr. Doyle’s colossal career accomplishments with his upcoming retirement, we are holding a one day symposium event
Riklin Auditorium (FS 1.406,) Frio Street Building, Downtown CampusThe NHERI Summer Institute is a free event for early-career faculty, NHERI Graduate Student Council, K-12 educators from the San Antonio area, engineers, and researchers to learn more about the Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI) community.
La Villita Room (DBB 1.116,) Durango Building, Main CampusBuilding the Dual Language Leader Symposium will provide a safe space for current and aspiring leaders to learn best practices, theories, policies, and systems that support a dual language bilingual education.
UTSA Southwest Campus, 300 Augusta St.Streaming of Spray the Word that will conclude with a discussion with San Antonio's Poet Laureate, Andrea "Vocab" Sanderson.
Aula Canaria (BVB 1.328,) Buena Vista Street Building, Downtown CampusCelebrate Hispanic Heritage Month at our very own street fair - Calle UTSA. We will have activities, performances, food, music, and pinatas to break open! All free to UTSA students, faculty, and staff.
Student Union Paseo, Main CampusThe University of Texas at San Antonio is dedicated to the advancement of knowledge through research and discovery, teaching and learning, community engagement and public service. As an institution of access and excellence, UTSA embraces multicultural traditions and serves as a center for intellectual and creative resources as well as a catalyst for socioeconomic development and the commercialization of intellectual property - for Texas, the nation and the world.
To be a premier public research university, providing access to educational excellence and preparing citizen leaders for the global environment.
We encourage an environment of dialogue and discovery, where integrity, excellence, inclusiveness, respect, collaboration and innovation are fostered.
UTSA is a proud Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) as designated by the U.S. Department of Education.
The University of Texas at San Antonio, a Hispanic Serving Institution situated in a global city that has been a crossroads of peoples and cultures for centuries, values diversity and inclusion in all aspects of university life. As an institution expressly founded to advance the education of Mexican Americans and other underserved communities, our university is committed to ending generations of discrimination and inequity. UTSA, a premier public research university, fosters academic excellence through a community of dialogue, discovery and innovation that embraces the uniqueness of each voice.
