New Fine Arts dean to bring vision to UNM

Staff Report

James S. Moy was chosen from five candidates to take on the UNM Fine Arts Department dean position beginning in January.

Moy is the chairman of the Theater and Drama Department at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

UNM Provost Brian Foster said in a University statement that Moy "brings energy and vision to the deanship and knowledge gained from one of our nation's most distinguished universities."

As the Fine Arts dean, Moy will be responsible for six departments: the Bainbridge Bunting Memorial Slide Library; the Department of Art and Art History; the Music Department; the Theater and Dance Department; the Media Arts Department; and the Tamarind Institute. He will oversee more than 100 regular faculty and staff and about 1,300 students.

The UNM College of Fine Arts currently offers bachelor's degrees in the various departments, while also offering master's degrees in art history, dance, music and theater.

While at Madison, Moy also participated in several committees, including the Executive Committee of Arts and Humanities Division, Executive Committee of the Arts Institute and was the Campus Climate Committee co-chairman. He also served as associate professor from 1984-1994, and assistant professor from 1981-1984 at Madison.

Moy earned his doctorate in theater history from the University of Illinois at Urbana in 1977. He trained as a specialist in 19th century American cultural history and recently focused his studies on U.S. race representations.

In addition, he has taught at the University of Texas at Austin, Northwestern University, and the University of Oregon at Eugene.

Moy also was the Theatre Journal's editor and is a member of several groups, including the Association for Asian American Studies, American Society of Theatre Research and the Association for Theatre in Higher Education.

The other dean finalists were David W. Bernstein, professor and head of the Music Department at Mills College in Oakland, Calif.; David J. Magidson, professor and co-director of the Department of Theatre Center for Arts and Public Policy at Wayne State University in Detroit, Mich.; Gaylyn Studlar, professor and director of the Program in Film and Video Studies at University of Michigan in Ann Arbor; and George Arasimowicz, dean of the Division of Arts, Media and Communications at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Ill.