From the Chair

Dear Advisory Council and Parents Council members,

We are looking so forward to the COFA Advisory Council meeting in Santa Fe, New Mexico this spring and are hopeful you can join us. In place of our traditional spring meetings across Texas, we are delighted to invite you to three days of tours, social events, and of course, a brief meeting in this dynamic cultural community, one that shares many supporters in common with our college.

Below is preliminary information so you can begin your plans. We will have the full itinerary of activities in January, but wanted to give you an idea of the wonderful activities we are planning.

Friday, March 31
Coffee and Business Meeting at La Fonda on the Plaza
Lunch on your own
Optional tours
Evening reception at a private home

Saturday, April 1
Optional tours
Lunch or Evening Reception at a private home

Accommodations
We have a group rate at La Fonda On the Plaza.
100 E. San Francisco Street, Santa Fe, NM 87501
Use this link to reserve your room now.
The block includes several different categories of rooms for you to choose from, including rooms in the newly renovated boutique part of the hotel, The Terrace Inn.
Please contact the hotel directly if you plan to arrive prior to March 30 and/or stay longer than April 2. You can find the full block information including pricing and parking here.

Additional Information
Guests are responsible for their own air and ground travel arrangements.
Flights are available into Santa Fe airport via American Airlines or United Airlines. Flights are available to Albuquerque airport via Southwest Airlines and many more. It is a one hour drive from Albuquerque to Santa Fe. Rental cars, Uber or pre-arranged transportation services are available.

If you have any questions, please reach out to Assistant Director of Development Lauren Cunningham at lauren.cunningham@austin.utexas.edu.

In January we will be sending out more details, suggestions for meals and sight-seeing that are not included as well as information how to register for activities. Stay tuned, but please go ahead and book your hotel and flights soon!

Warm Regards,

Caroline Schupbach
Chair

We are proud to announce that Caroline Schupbach of San Antonio will become chair of the Fine Arts Advisory Council beginning in 2020-2021.

Lisa Thurmond nominated Caroline to join the council in 2015, and in 2017, Caroline received the council’s Fedora Award for Advocacy (pictured above) for spearheading the creation of the Fine Arts Parents Council and her service on the Executive Committee. She and her husband Robert are both UT graduates, and their daughter Margaret will be a senior next year in the Moody College of Communication.

Caroline also serves on the Executive Board of Directors for the Charity Ball Association and is involved with numerous arts organizations in San Antonio and Santa Fe.

“I am delighted to be leading the Fine Arts Advisory Council this year,” Caroline says. “It has been such a pleasure to watch the sea-change in COFA led by Dean Dempster over the last several years. He has poised the college to be ready for the challenges that we are facing right now as well as prepared the college to turn the page to a new chapter of leadership.”

Dear Members,

This spring has not been like any other, and I hope this message finds you and your families well. While we were unfortunately not able to gather for our typical regional meetings this spring, I am glad so many were able to join us for our first ever virtual council meeting in April, and I hope to see you all again on the May 20 call next week. This new online format opens up many possibilities to stay connected and informed between meetings, and I look forward to regularly hearing from Dean Dempster and amazing faculty members like Julie Schell and Robert Ramirez.

Also, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many Fine Arts students have had their in-person internships canceled this spring and for the summer, so I’m calling on the council to help the college find new placements for these bright and talented students, either for the summer or this fall. If you work with an arts organization that has virtual internships or might be interested in transitioning their in-person internships online, please email Natalie so she can pass that information along to the Fine Arts Career Services team.

Continue Reading Spring 2020 Message from Sara Hallam

Dear Members,

By now, you have seen Doug’s official announcement that he will be retiring as dean by the end of the 2020-2021 academic year. This is bittersweet news, but I am grateful that we as a council still have more than a year to help him realize his goals for the college.

For more than a decade, Doug has worked tirelessly to expand the College of Fine Arts and build an arts college of the 21st century. However, he would remind us that there is still plenty of work to be done. As he told us at the fall meeting, the college must never stop evolving to meet the demands of an ever-changing world.

Continue Reading Winter 2019 Message from Sara Hallam

Dear Friends,

The school year may be coming to a close, but we are already looking forward to the exciting things we have planned for the council in 2019-2020.

First, thank you to the members who nominated friends and community members to join the council as new members in the fall. We have a great cohort of nine nominees approved by the Nominating Committee, so please take a moment to read their bios.

I hope you will start thinking now about who you would like to nominate this fall to join the council in 2020-2021. Don’t forget that you can bring potential new members as your guest to the fall meeting on September 20 to learn more about the college and the council.

Continue Reading Summer 2019 Message from Sara Hallam

Dear Friends,

It was great to see so many of you at the fall meeting in October. Thank you again for taking time out of your busy schedules to attend. For those of you unable to join us, please take a moment to read the meeting overview below. There are many exciting opportunities on the horizon, and we will need the help of the entire council to make them a reality.

One item of business we always discuss in the fall meeting is nominating new members to join next year’s council. Our council has always been unique at UT thanks to the dedication and strong support of its members, and we are excited to welcome new friends to continue that tradition.

Continue Reading Fall 2018 Message from Sara Hallam

Dear Friends,

I imagine that you, like me, are getting ready for a summer full of travel, rest, and relaxation. So I ask that you to take a moment to confirm that our fall Advisory Council meeting is on your calendars for Friday, October 12. I hope that you will make every effort to attend. It is such an important opportunity to hear from Doug and Sondra, meet students and faculty, and of course, visit with your fellow council members.

Thank you to everyone who attended the regional meetings in Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio this spring. Doug’s update about the School of Design and Creative Technologies and growth throughout the college, including his efforts around creating successful college-to-career transitions for Fine Arts students, was informative and inspiring.

Continue Reading Spring 2018 Message from Vicki Bartholow

Dear Friends,

It was wonderful to see so many of you at this year’s fall meeting in October. Thank you to everyone who attended. We on the council support the College of Fine Arts with our time, talent, and treasure, so I appreciate those of you who were able to give us your day. If you were unable to come this year, see below for a full recap. I hope you all will save the date for our fall 2018 meeting on Friday, October 12.

As you know, we also used the fall meeting to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Fine Arts Advisory Council. It was so fun to see photos of our cohorts from 10 to 30 years ago and reminds me how we are part of an ongoing tradition of arts advocacy. The council has a great track record of recruiting outstanding members, so as we honor the past, I can’t help but be excited about where we are heading.

Continue Reading Winter 2017 Message from Vicki Bartholow

Dear Friends,

What a busy spring it has been! I appreciate all of you who were able to join us for the regional meetings in Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio. For those of you who weren’t able to attend, I’d like to share some updates on the college and its current initiatives.

Now that students have left campus, major construction has begun in the Level 4 renovation project in the Fine Arts Library. Over the next three months, this 9,000 square foot space will be transformed from library stacks to a newly renovated, state-of-the-art workspace for the extremely popular and ever-expanding Arts and Entertainment Technologies and Design programs.

Earlier this year, the Executive Committee had the opportunity to tour the renovation area, and I can tell you these facilities will provide current and future students with the technology, equipment, and space they need to get a world-class education and flourish in their professional careers. Please join me in supporting Level 4 renovation.

Continue Reading Summer 2017 Message from Vicki Bartholow