Colin Blakely named Associate Vice President for Strategic Initiative for Arizona Arts
As we launch into the new academic year and a new era for the arts at the University of Arizona, I’m pleased to announce a new addition to the Arizona Arts leadership team.
Colin Blakely is being promoted to the position of Associate Vice President for Strategic Initiatives for Arizona Arts. He will retain his appointment as the Director of the School of Art, a position he has excelled at since joining the University in 2015.
I’m excited to have Colin as our point person to connect what’s going on with the arts to the broader University strategic plan. He is charged with ensuring that the arts are really infused in the University’s plan; that the arts are represented, our faculty and staff are connected and that we are fully participating with initiatives related to the strategic priorities.
“It has been thrilling to work with Andy as he has developed and begun to implement a vision for transforming the arts on campus,” Colin writes. “I believe deeply in that vision and the road map it provides for maximizing the impact of the arts. I am delighted to be able to contribute to the future of Arizona Arts and look forward to building connections between the new communities this role will provide access to and the ones with which I already engage.”
Colin will shepherd the rewriting of the Arizona Arts plan initiative and also be instrumental in working on some of the key elements. He’ll spearhead our strategic general education plan, lead our new curriculum committee, explore the possibility of a campus-wide arts fee and manage our membership in Imagining America, with its mission of integrating arts and culture in the public space.
My view is that although the arts live here, the arts are everywhere and the arts can play an impactful role with every strategic priority; Colin’s job is to make sure that that happens.
Please join me in congratulating Colin for all of his outstanding work already completed on our behalf in these areas; he represented the arts during the very initial drafting of the University plan. Now that the arts are recognized as priorities by the University leadership, I believe Colin’s new role will be vital to the long-range success of our new endeavor, Arizona Arts.
Sincerely,
Andy Schulz
Vice President for the Arts
Dean | College of Fine Arts
