Dean’s Insider: Celebrating our Doty Awards honorees for 2022

This past week, I had the great honor of gathering with many friends to celebrate the recipients of the College of Fine Arts’ 2022 Doty Awards. This was my first time participating in this event in the college, and I loved learning more about the incredible impact of the work of our recipients.

The E. William Doty Award, named for the founding dean of the College of Fine Arts, is the highest honor given by our college. This year, we honored the Still Water Foundation, which has long been a key supporter of Landmarks, the University’s public art program. With the continued generous support of the Foundation, Landmarks has become one of the most prestigious university public art collections in the country, inspiring students and scholars from disciplines across the Forty Acres.

We also honored two prolific and inspiring alumni in our college:

Arts executive, curator and designer Fairfax Dorn (B.F.A., Studio Art, 1997; B.A., Art History, 1998) received the E. William Doty Distinguished Alumna Award. Dorn is the co-founder of Ballroom Marfa, an internationally-recognized contemporary non-profit art space located in West Texas, where she served as the executive director until 2013.

Playwright and screenwriter Isaac Gómez (B.A., Theatre and Dance, 2013) received the E. William Doty Young Alumnus Award. Gómez grew up in El Paso, Texas/Ciudad Juárez, Mexico and is currently based in Chicago and Los Angeles. As a playwright, they are currently under commission with LCT3, Steppenwolf Theater Company, South Coast Repertory, Denver Center for the Performing Arts and IAMA Theatre Company. Gómez’s television credits include the Netflix Original Series Narcos: Mexico, among other exciting upcoming projects for AppleTV, Netflix and Paramount TV+.

Each of these recipients continues to do important work to support visual and performing arts and lift up new voices and tell new stories through art. We’re honored they’re part of our College of Fine Arts community, and I hope you’ll join me in sending warmest congratulations and gratitude to the Still Water Foundation, Fairfax Dorn and Isaac Gómez.

Sincerely,