The hunt is on.
The search for a new Dean of the College of Arts & Letters has been narrowed down to four candidates: Caterina Bristol, Richard Kravchak, Jeffrey Oxford and Barry Jones, M.F.A.; Interim Dean of the College of Arts & Letters, APSU.
The College of Arts & Letters encompasses a wide array of departments including, Art and Design, Communication, History and Philosophy, Languages and Literature, Music, Theatre and Dance, African-American Studies, International Studies and Women and Gender Studies.
Since there are so many different departments included in the college, candidates for the position come from many different backgrounds.
With each of the candidates’ public forums, fast approaching now is the time to learn what each of these potential new Deans could offer APSU.
Caterina Bristol, whose open forum is Tuesday, March 19, has her Art.D. in Oboe Performance and pedagogy with a secondary emphasis in Music History from the University of Northern Colorado. She also has her Master in Library Science from Texas Womens’ University.
She is currently the Associate Dean of the College of Visual & Performing Arts and Interim Assistant Provost for Academic Affairs at Alabama State University.
She has been Chair over Region 8 of the National Association of Schools of Music since 2016.
Richard Kravchak, whose open forum is Thursday, March 28, has his Mus. D. also in Oboe Performance from Florida State University. However, he got his Master of Music in English Horn Performance at The Julliard School.
He is currently the Director of the School of Music at the University of Southern Mississippi. He was previously the Director of the School of Music and Theatre at Marshall University.
His Curriculum Vitae included comments from student evaluations such as, “He is giving us the right tools we need to succeed in our career,” and “Best teacher on campus.”
Jeffrey Oxford, whose open forum is Friday, March 29, has his Ph. D. in Spanish with a Minor in French from Texas Tech University. However, he got his Bachelor of Arts with Certification to Teach in Foreign Languages with a minor in Mathematics with endorsement to teach Latin form APSU.
He is currently Chair of the Department of World Languages and Cultures at Midwestern State University.
As Chair, he developed a “Spanish for the Professions” minor program for Health Sciences and Business colleges.
Barry Jones, whose open forum is Monday, March 25, has his Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art: 3D Studies from the University of South Carolina. However, he got his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography at APSU.
He is also currently the Interim Dean of the College of Arts and Letters at APSU. He was Chair of the Department of Art + Design at APSU.
He also previously worked as the Director of Exhibitions at Emory & Henry College.
The first open forum is March 19.
The open forums scheduled for March 19, 25 and 28 will be held in MUC 307. The final session on March 29 will be in Claxton 103.
Candidates will give a brief presentation and the rest of the time will be devoted to questions from the audience.
