Bell to be appointed interim dean of the College of the Arts

COLUMBUS – Executive Vice President and Provost Edward J. Ray has recommended to President William E. Kirwan the appointment of Karen A. Bell as interim dean of The Ohio State University’s College of the Arts.  Kirwan will ask the university’s Board of Trustees to approve the appointment at its next meeting on Aug. 29.  Bell currently serves as chair of Ohio State’s Department of Dance.

Bell’s appointment is to be effective Aug. 1 and will remain in effect until June 30, 2002.  She replaces Judith S. Koroscik, who is stepping down July 31 to become dean of the College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning at the University of Cincinnati.  Ray has established a committee to begin conducting a national search for a permanent dean.

“I was strongly persuaded to make this interim appointment by the many faculty, staff and students of the college who recommended Karen based on her outstanding record of accomplishment as a highly respected administrator and artist,” Ray said.  “As I spoke with those in the college, Karen’s name repeatedly came up as 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 candidate to lead the college on an interim basis.”

            Bell joined the Ohio State faculty in 1980 and has chaired the Department of Dance since 1995, including one year as acting chair.  She also served as associate dean of the College of the Arts responsible for the college’s undergraduate academic programs.  She has served as 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.  She is currently working on a dance theater piece which 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.

            “It’s an honor to be chosen, and a pleasure to have the opportunity to serve as interim dean for the College of the Arts,” Bell said.  “I look forward to working together with our creative and distinguished faculty in this exciting and challenging year.”

            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.

###