University recommends new arts dean

COLUMBUS -- Executive Vice President and Provost Edward J. Ray has recommended to President William E. Kirwan the appointment of Karen A. Bell as dean of Ohio State’s College of the Arts. Kirwan will ask the university’s Board of Trustees to approve a five-year appointment – effective May 1, 2002, through June 30, 2007 – at its next meeting on April 5. Ray also recommended that the president seek approval for her promotion to professor, also effective May 1.

Bell, a well-known choreographer and performer, has served as interim dean of the college since last Aug. 1. She replaced Judith S. Koroscik, who left the university last year to become dean of the College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning at the University of Cincinnati.

“I find Karen’s strong credentials and her outstanding record of accomplishment as a highly respected administrator and artist impressive and her intelligence, integrity, and personal skills should serve her well as she guides the college forward,” Ray said. “After conducting a national search, I concluded that Karen was the one best qualified and prepared to lead the college’s continued path toward even greater excellence. Her organizational skills, coupled with her understanding of the university, make her an ideal leader of the college.”

Bell joined the Ohio State faculty in 1980 and chaired the Department of Dance – one of the leading dance departments in the country – since 1995, including one year as acting chair. She also served as associate dean of the College of the Arts from 1992 to 1996 and was responsible for the college’s undergraduate academic programs. She has been a visiting assistant professor at Cornell University and, prior to coming to Ohio State, taught at Cornell, Wells College, Elmira College, and the State University of New York at Potsdam. She holds a master’s of fine arts in dance from Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, N.Y., and a bachelor’s in sociology from S.U.N.Y., Potsdam.

Bell’s research interests and creative activity are in the areas of performance and choreography. Her most recent dance theater piece examines the themes of self-image, motherhood, divorce, and work, through a common focus of aging. Nationally, she serves on the National Association for Schools of Dance as an evaluator of other programs around the country, and is one of four who serves on the association’s Commission on Accreditation.

“Becoming dean of the College of the Arts is a true honor,” Bell said. “I look forward to working together with our extraordinary faculty, staff, and students to continue to enhance our college’s position as a leader in arts, scholarship, performance, and education.”

Ohio State’s College of the Arts is comprised of the School of Music, the departments of Art, Art Education, Dance, Design, History of Art, and Theatre, and the Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design (ACCAD). The faculty numbers more than 170 visual and performing artists, designers, playwrights, composers, choreographers, historians, and scholars who teach a student body of 1,000 undergraduate and 500 graduate-level majors.