Campus News

Search committee identifies three candidates for art school directorship

Three candidates for the directorship of the Lamar Dodd School of Art at UGA have been selected by a university search committee.  Two of the candidates have visited campus and presented a lecture. The third will visit April 4.

The candidates are Lisa Reilly, an associate professor in the School of Architecture at the University of Virginia; David LaPalombara, a professor of art at Antioch College; and Marcia Isaacson, an associate dean and professor of drawing at the University of Florida.

Reilly holds a B.A. from Vassar College, an M.A. from York University and a Ph.D. from the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University. Her research interest is in the history of Norman architecture in England, France and Italy.

LaPalombara’s work focuses on art in public spaces. He has a B.A. from Oberlin College and an M.F.A. from Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. Isaacson holds a B.F.A. and an M.F.A. from UGA. Her work has been included in more than 60 exhibitions across the country.

Isaacson will speak on April 4 at 5:30 p.m. in room 114 of the visual arts building.

The current director of UGA’s art school is Carmon Colangelo, who has held the position since 1997.  Colangelo oversaw the renaming of the department of art to the Lamar Dodd School of Art, started a significant visiting artist scholar series and supervised the groundbreaking on a new visual arts building, among many other accomplishments. Colangelo was named dean of the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis late last year.

The 12-member search committee is chaired by Betty Jean Craige, director of UGA’s Willson Center for Humanities and the Arts and includes art faculty members R.G. Brown, Melissa Harshman, Carole Henry, Chris Hocking, Stefanie Jackson, Joe Norman, Susan Roberts, Isabelle Wallace and Shelley Zuraw; student representative C. Wayne Jones; and a member of the school’s board of visitors, Betty King.