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Welcome from the Dean
I greet you as the new interim dean of the College of the Arts at the Ohio State University. Those of you familiar with the college will realize that my appointment as dean is recent, as indeed it is. I assumed my duties as interim dean on July 1, 2008. On that date, Karen Bell, the former dean of the College of the Arts, began her new duties as associate vice president for Arts Outreach, a role that will allow her to remain intimately involved in arts administration and development at Ohio State. While the college will miss Karen’s leadership, it will continue to benefit from the solid foundation that she laid for its future during her tenure as dean as well as from her more expansive role in promoting the welfare of the arts both within and on behalf of the Ohio State arts community in her new position.
My appointment as interim dean coincides with the announcement of exciting and important changes in the administrative structure of the arts and sciences at the university. In May, the president and provost announced that the current five colleges of the arts and sciences, of which the College of the Arts is one, would merge into a single College of Arts and Sciences with three divisions: Arts and Humanities, Math and Physical Sciences and the Biological Sciences, and Social and Behavioral Sciences. The chief administrator of the new College of Arts and Sciences will hold the title of executive dean and vice provost. During the transition to the new administrative structure, the current five colleges will continue to exist as administrative units, and I have the pleasure of serving as interim dean of both the College of the Arts and the College of Humanities.
My dual role as dean of the College of the Arts and the College of the Humanities will allow me to begin the important work of forging a vision for the Division of Arts and Humanities. However, my primary goal as interim dean of the College of the Arts is to sustain our already strong and excellent academic programs in the performing and visual arts—programs of which we are justifiably proud. I also remain firmly committed to the college’s mission “to provide rich learning environments that deepen understanding of and nurture creativity in the visual and performing arts…” for all of our students. In fulfilling this and other aspects of our mission, our faculty and students and the activities through which they realize their vision of the highest standards of performance, creativity, pedagogy, research and scholarship in the arts will have my full support. At the same time, I work with the faculty to develop ways of maximizing our new relationship to the humanities, other arts and sciences disciplines, and our continuing relationship to the Wexner Center to enhance our ability to explore and create new “strengths in interdisciplinary collaboration, international/multicultural initiatives, and innovative research and pedagogical work.… in the visual and performing arts.”
These are exciting times for the arts at Ohio State. We hope you will continue to support us as we begin this new era in the history of the visual and performing arts at Ohio State.
John W. Roberts
Interim Dean, College of the Arts
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John Roberts, interim dean
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