Left: Dipti Desai, Right: Donalyn Heise
As a part of the Art Education Lecture Series, Dipti Desai and Donalyn Heise will be exploring answers to the questions: How can art be used to foster activism? How can art develop resilience?
Dipti Desai is Associate Professor and Director of the Graduate Art + Education Programs at New York University. As a scholar and artist-educator, her work addresses the intersection between visual art, activism and critical pedagogy. She has published widely in the area of critical multiculturalism/critical race theory in art education, contemporary art as a pedagogical site, and critical pedagogy. She is the co-editor of Social Justice and the Arts book published by Taylor and Francis and her co-authored book, History as Art, Art as History: Contemporary Art and Social Studies Education, received an honorable mention for Curriculum Practice by Division B of American Education and Research Association (AERA). Among her awards, she received the Ziegfield Service Award for contribution to International Art Education and the Specialist Fulbright Award. Her most recent project entailed curating a special issue on artistic activism for the journal, Visual Inquiry: Learning and Teaching Art that was published summer of 2017.
Donalyn Heise is an Artist and Art Education Consultant with 30+ years experience in K-12 public and private schools and at the university level. Her research focuses on the transformative power of art and its ability to foster resilience in diverse populations. Collaborative work includes art education in a variety of contexts, including out of school and urban art settings. She is co-editor of Art for Children Experiencing Psychological Trauma: A Guide for Art Educators and School-Based Professionals. Her research has also been published in Studies in Art Education, Journal of Social Theory in Arts Education, Art Education Journal, Handbook of Arts Education and Special Education, and the Journal of Online Learning. She has received numerous grants and has conducted over 100 workshops and presentations at the state, regional, national and international levels. Heise served as Associate Professor and Art Education Program Coordinator at the University of Memphis, Director for the Center for Innovation in Art Education at the University of Nebraska, and President of the State Art Education Association. Awards include the 2013 Tennessee Special Needs Art Educator of the Year award, 2010 Tennessee Art Educator of the Year, the 2010 NAEA Southeastern Region Higher Ed award, the 2009 NAEA VSA CEC Beverly Levett Gerber Special Needs Lifetime Achievement Award, 2007 Tennessee Higher Ed Art Educator of the Year and the Nebraska Art Teachers' Association Supervisor /Administrator of the Year Award.
The Art Education Lecture Series invites nationally and internationally known educators and arts professionals that visit the department each semester to lecture on a variety of contemporary topics.
Past Lecturers
Christine Ballangee–Morris and Pam Taylor (2017)
Amy Pfeiler-Wunder and Marilyn Galvin Stewart (2016)
Doug Blandy and Kristin G. Congdon (2015)
Ami Kantawala and Mary Ann Stankiewicz (2014)
Amanda Allison and Rebecca McGinnis (2013)
Carole Henry and Carolyn Ehrler (2012)
Howard Taylor and Peter Samis (2011)
Terry Barrett and Christine Marme Thompson (2010)
B. Stephen Carpenter and Melody Milbrandt (2009)
Dipti Desai and Laurie E. Hicks (2008)
Olivia Gude and Kenneth Krafchek (2007)