The following investments will further enhance and expand the Department of Art to create new opportunities for current and future aspiring artists:

• Ceramics, Assistant Professor — Tenure Track
• Art Historian, Assistant Professor — Tenure Track
• Graphic Design, Assistant Professor — Tenure Track
• Art in Practice — Full-time Instructor
• Gallery + Outreach Director — Staff
• Graduate Teaching Assistant — Gallery + Outreach

Ceramics is a popular area for the Art Department and will serve students pursuing art education, pre-art therapy and studio. For almost a decade, Emporia State University has not had a full-time tenure track Art Historian, a position necessary to maintain specialized accreditation. Both positions were open and eliminated during earlier budget cutting without long-term thought.

The addition of the new Graphic Design tenure track position will introduce motion graphics curriculum that will complement the existing Graphic Design program, the most popular and fastest-growing concentration in the Department of Art.

The new Art in Practice Instructor and Gallery + Outreach Director are exciting additions as Emporia State and the city of Emporia continue to work together to foster art in the community. These positions are focused on creating opportunities to bring art to others — to the community through mural projects and by hosting a variety of exhibitions, actively promoting the department, collaborating with Emporia First Fridays and the Emporia Arts Center to engage the community and aspiring artists of all ages.

All five positions will begin fall 2023. A graduate teaching assistant from the art therapy master’s program will support the Gallery + Outreach Director and Art in Practice Instructor.