Meetings

Dear Advisory Council members,

In a typical year, this would be my letter formally inviting you to gather as a group on campus for the council’s annual business meeting. However, this is anything but a typical year.

I am grateful for your attention, engagement and support this spring and summer, as we have seen each other—albeit through a computer screen—on various occasions. And since we cannot gather in person this fall, we will continue to host regular online meetings to keep you up to date and to seek your advice and input during these challenging times.

So, I do invite you to join us for the first of three virtual fall meetings on Friday, September 25, from 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. CST. In addition to my state-of-the-college update, we will be welcoming John Yancey, our newly appointed Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, as well as MacKenzie Stevens, the director of the Visual Arts Center, as guest speakers.

Check your email for detailed instructions on how to join the meeting via Zoom, and please contact Sondra Lomax or Natalie Schuessler with any questions.

I look forward to seeing you online on September 25. And my continuing thanks for all you do in support of the college as a member of our Advisory Council.

Excelsior!

Doug Dempster
Dean

Dear Advisory Council members,

I continue to be grateful for the time and attention you’ve given to the college over the last several months, especially now as so many of you are navigating the complexities of safe summer travel or are preparing to send your children back to school.

My thanks again to everyone who was able to attend our third videoconference call last Thursday. What in April felt strange and challenging about gathering online now feels like a new normal routine. Features like the live poll you took are exactly what our professors are using in their online courses to keep students engaged in the material, so look for more of those techniques and tools in our future meetings.

If you could not join us, please take some time to watch the recording of the meeting. Roxanne Schroeder-Arce gave an excellent presentation on our UTeach Fine Arts program and all of the ways she, our faculty, and our students are leading the conversation about innovation in arts education in the state of Texas.

Continue Reading August 6 Virtual Meeting Recap

Dear Advisory Council members,

I write with two important updates to the council’s schedule for the 2020-2021 academic year.

First, to protect the health and safety of you, our members, as well as our students, faculty, and staff, we will not be gathering in person for our usual on-campus meeting this fall. Instead, we will host a series of short virtual meetings, similar to our popular sessions this summer. Please mark your calendars for the first virtual Advisory Council meeting on Friday, September 25. 

This decision is in compliance with the policies announced last week by UT’s Interim President Jay Hartzell as part of the new Protect Texas Together initiative, in which university officials are advising against large in-person gatherings in favor of online events.

However, we do expect to see you in person in the spring! Please save the date for a special, spring meeting as we gather together on campus on Friday, March 5, 2021. This meeting will be in conjunction with several other special university events, and we will have more information about those spring festivities in the coming months. We will also hold our usual regional meetings next spring to give you the opportunity to celebrate and say farewell to Doug before he retires.

Continue Reading Important Update on 2020-2021 Advisory Council Events

Dear Advisory Council members,

We are facing difficult challenges created by COVID-19, but I’m finding that there are also silver linings. Just a few months ago, the Fine Arts Advisory Council had never held a virtual meeting, and now, we’ve completed our second Zoom meeting where we once again had nearly a third of our council join us. I think the days of only connecting with you once or twice a year at meetings are gone, and that is a change I can embrace enthusiastically.

For those of you unable to attend, I hope you’ll take some time to watch the recording of the meeting, especially the presentations by Robert Ramirez, our chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance, and Julie Schell, our assistant dean for instructional continuity and innovation. The surprise video message from Renee Fleming to our opera students is not to be missed, and here are links to the other student work we featured:

• The Butler School’s Mariachi Ensemble performs together online
• Dance students find creative places to perform when the studios close
• The 2020 B.F.A. Design exhibition went virtual, with stunning results

Continue Reading May 20 Virtual Meeting Recap

Dear Advisory Council members,

Once again, thank you to everyone who joined last week’s Zoom call. For those of you who weren’t able to attend here is a quick recap of what we discussed.

I started the call sporting a hat gifted to me by Byron LeFlore (thank you, Byron) and a mask made by artist and faculty member, Beili Liu. The mask is made out of a prayer flag from the art installation THIRST that Professor Liu created at Lady Bird Lake in 2013, which featured 14,000 of these flags. Professor Liu is converting 1,000 of the flags into masks to distribute – just one example of the creative and innovative ways our Fine Arts community is responding to the COVID-19 crisis.

My thanks to our members who have given generously to the University’s Student Emergency Fund. For the many students who were already financially insecure, this pandemic has pushed them over the edge. The fund has already distributed more than $1 million, but continues to receive more than 100 applications a day, so we’re extremely grateful for everyone’s help. Some of you have contacted us about giving directly to COFA students, in addition to the UT Student Emergency Fund, and for those donations, I ask that you consider a gift to The Doty Society, our college’s unrestricted student support fund.

Continue Reading April 14 Virtual Meeting Recap