ATLANTA—Dr. Wade Weast has been named the founding dean of Georgia State University’s College of the Arts, a new academic unit that will focus on education in arts and related media, promote creativity and respond to the changing needs of artists, on- and off-campus.
The college, which will open in July 2017, will include the School of Music, the Welch School of Art and Design, the film and theater component from the Department of Communication, the Center for Collaborative and International Arts and the Center for Educational Partnerships from the School of Music. These units are now part of the university’s College of Arts and Sciences.
“The creation of this college elevates the arts at the university and as a result arts majors will see their public performances, exhibitions and film screenings become more visible on our large and diverse campus,” Weast said. “Georgia State’s increasing number of residential students will enjoy the benefits of a more robust collection of on-campus public performances, exhibitions and film screenings. The college will partner with the university and the City of Atlanta in making downtown a more enjoyable place to live, work and study. Our college will foster a heightened focus on entrepreneurship, creativity and collaboration.”
The university’s 2011 strategic plan outlined a plan to highlight the arts and media and called for the creation of a college of the arts. The college will bring together a group of faculty and students with common research and creative interests, goals and student learning outcomes. It will respond to the rapid growth of Georgia State and Atlanta, while capitalizing on recent growth in the film and entertainment industry in Georgia.
Dr. Weast has been associate dean of music and fine arts in the College of Arts and Sciences and director of the School of Music at Georgia State since July 2015. Prior to coming to the university, Dr. Weast was dean of the School of Music at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) and director of the School of Music at the University of South Florida (USF). Weast was instrumental in developing partnerships among the arts departments at those institutions, and in the case of USF, formation of a new College of the Arts. His research and administrative interests include student-centered learning, peer learning and mentoring, and faculty development and evaluation. He has also been a successful fundraiser as evidenced by more than $3.7 million raised for scholarships at UNCSA.
“I look forward to working with Dr. Weast to ensure the successful start of the College of the Arts and to making it one of the most outstanding arts colleges on an urban university campus in the nation,” said Provost Risa Palm.
FAQ about the College of the Arts
The university’s strategic plan, introduced in 2011, outlined a plan to highlight the arts and media and called for the creation of a college of the arts. The college will respond to the changing and specific needs of artists today. It will promote creativity and innovative practices on campus. The college will bring together a group of faculty and students with common research and creative interests, goals and student learning outcomes. It will respond to the rapid growth of Georgia State and Atlanta, while capitalizing on recent growth in the film and entertainment industry in Georgia.
- All of the School of Music and the Welch School of Art and Design.
- The film and theater component from the Department of Communication.
- The Center for Collaborative and International Arts
- The Center for Educational Partnerships from the School of Music.
The initiation of the new College of the Arts will begin on July 1, 2016 and the transition will be made with as little interruption as possible to current and returning students in the coming academic year. The transition period will be completed by July 1, 2017 when the new College of the Arts and its faculty and students are joined together.
The arts will be elevated at the university and as a result arts majors will see their public performances, exhibitions and film screenings become more visible on our large and diverse campus. Georgia State’s increasing number of residential students will enjoy the benefits of a more robust collection of on-campus public events. performances, exhibitions and film screenings. The college will partner with the university and the City of Atlanta in making downtown a more enjoyable place to live, work and study.
The value of the degrees earned in the new college will be enhanced by a heightened focus on entrepreneurship, creativity and collaboration with a grounding in the finest, most up-to-date liberal arts scholarship.
Increased attention to fundraising will result in improvements to the overall quality of the academic programs contained in the college. The college will focus on fundraising efforts to make infrastructure improvements and increase the number of endowed professorships and endowed student scholarships.
The formation of a College of the Arts will help us recruit, develop and retain a world-class faculty, which will assist in our effort to recruit and graduate the very best students. This will have a positive effect on our enrollment management targets and our graduation rate.
The hope is that faculty will notice very little difference in the day-to-day operations of the units contained in the new college. However, the heightened visibility of the arts at Georgia State will allow us to better showcase our world-class outstanding faculty. Future faculty searches will benefit from this reorganization, which rightly acknowledges the important role the arts can play in the 21st century American research university. Georgia State will become a national leader in arts and creative industries education, development and entrepreneurship.
No. During the first year of the new college, a feasibility study will be conducted on the merits of Rialto joining the college. We will examine how other urban universities are organized and use these data to make a determination.
No. We will re-examine this once institute is fully up and running.
We will strengthen our existing partnerships with arts organizations and media producers and forge new ones to provide students with experiential learning opportunities. We will become the “front door” to the university by offering numerous performances, exhibitions and film screenings. We will view Atlanta as our laboratory and provide students with multiple opportunities to become engaged with the local community.
The location of the Dean’s office is unknown at this time. Initially, very little relocation of academic units within the new college will take place. However, it is anticipated that future construction and renovation plans will take into account the need for the members of the college to be in proximity to each other and to be housed in facilities appropriate for the more integrated and interdisciplinary education of students.
About 90 faculty and 2,000 students.