ATLANTA—Georgia State University Provost Nicolle Parsons-Pollard announced the 2025 cohort of faculty to receive a Distinguished University Professorship, and among this year’s seven new awardees is Professor Craig Drennen of the Ernest G. Welch School of Art & Design. The award is GSU’s highest institutional-level faculty rank, and it recognizes faculty for their sustained and outstanding record in scholarship and instruction, providing the impetus for continuing high achievement.
“I am so very proud of Professor Drennen, the Welch School of Art & Design and the entire College of the Arts,” says College of the Arts Dean Chester Phillips. “Professor Drennen’s appointment as a Distinguished University Professor is a testament to his outstanding work as an artist, teacher and colleague, as well as the culture of excellence within the School of Art & Design. His creativity, dedication and leadership serve as a model for others, not just in our college but across the university. It is wonderful to see his contributions honored in this way.”
Professor Drennen is a painter based in Atlanta and a 2018 Guggenheim Fellow. He is represented by Brigitte Mulholland gallery in Paris. Drennen has had recent solo exhibitions at The Suburban in Milwaukee and Freight+Volume Gallery in New York City. He has an upcoming solo exhibition at the Marietta-Cobb Museum of Art in September 2026 and will be included in the Hunter Invitational V at the Hunter Museum in January 2026. Drennen will have a solo exhibition at Brigitte Mulholland gallery in Paris in February 2026. His work has been reviewed in Art in America, Artforum and The New York Times. Drennen served as dean at the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture for four years and manages THE END Project Space.
"Since his appointment in 2009, Professor Drennen has modeled consummate professionalism and performance in his creative practice, his teaching, and his service to the Welch School of Art & Design, the College of the Arts, and Georgia State University,” said, Michael White, Director of the Ernest G. Welch School of Art & Design. “His tenure as graduate director helped raise the national profile of our school, attracting higher-caliber graduate students to our programs. He's a champion mentor and a stalwart colleague of the highest order. This fact, coupled with his 2018 Guggenheim Fellowship – one of the art world's most prestigious awards -- is evidence of Craig's continuing impact on our school at every level. We are very proud to see him recognized for his notable achievements and contributions."
The term of the Distinguished University Professor is five years and may be renewed once upon successful reapplication and reevaluation. No more than 5 percent of the university’s tenured faculty members may hold this title at any time.