CAA News Today
DeWitt Godfrey Elected CAA President for 2014–16.
posted by Nia Page — November 05, 2013
DeWitt Godfrey, associate professor of sculpture in the Department of Art and Art History at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York, has been elected president of the CAA Board of Directors for a two-year term, beginning May 2014. A member of the board since 2009, Godfrey has served on the board’s Executive Committee as secretary (2010–12) and vice president for committees (2012–14). He succeeds Anne Collins Goodyear, codirector of the Bowdoin College Museum of Art in Bowdoin, Maine, who has led the board since May 2012.
Godfrey writes, “During my tenure on the board, CAA has evolved into an organization that can look to the future with greater confidence than in the past. The next president must provide continuity and leadership that builds on our already realized strategic plans and advance the remainder of our unfinished, unmet goals. We must be mindful that our current and future strategic initiatives should be part of a coherent strategy for the growth and improvement of CAA, that individual initiatives contribute to both short- and long-term success, that we recognize the extent of our resources in relation to our ambitions, and finally that the strategic plan is seen as dynamic and of a whole.”
Godfrey did his undergraduate work at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, was a member of the inaugural group of fellows in the Core Residency Program at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and received his MFA from Edinburgh College of Art in Scotland. He is the recipient of numerous grants and fellowships, including awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Japan Foundation, and the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation. Godfrey’s work can be found in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Brooklyn Museum in New York. His commissioned work includes Concordia for LexArts in Lexington, Kentucky; Blanchard Road for the Cambridge Arts Council in Cambridge, Massachusetts; and Greenwich South, a visioning exercise for the Downtown Alliance in New York. His installations can be seen at the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids, Michigan; the DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum in Lincoln, Massachusetts; Lehman College in New York; and the Kennedy Museum of Art at Ohio University in Athens. Godfrey currently serves on CAA’s Task Force for Fair Use and on its 2015–2020 Strategic Plan Task Force.
Godfrey continues, “As CAA begins its second one hundred years, we look forward to the imminent roll-out of the 2015–2020 Strategic Plan and to the completion and dissemination of the findings of the Task Force on Fair Use. I hope to continue the work of our great predecessors to maintain CAA as the preeminent professional arts organization worldwide, to serve and grow membership, and to ready the association to respond effectively to future challenges, both known and unknown.”
The CAA board chooses its next president from among the elected directors in the fall of the current president’s final year of service, providing a period in which the next president can learn the responsibilities of the office and prepare for his or her term. For more information on CAA and on the Board of Directors, please contact Vanessa Jalet, CAA executive assistant.
Members Respond Enthusiastically to Survey for CAA’s 2015–2020 Strategic Plan
posted by Michael Fahlund — October 08, 2013
The results of the September 4th survey to members identified the most critical concerns in the visual arts field as: 1) the availability of full-time positions in academia and professional careers outside of academia; 2) access to information on professional opportunities and grants; 3) copyright, image licensing costs and fair use; and 4) the need for networking (survey results: www.collegeart.org/pdf/2013CAAMembershipSurvey.pdf). These and other critical interests of the members will assist in shaping the future of CAA as it develops the 2015-2020 Strategic Plan.
The CAA Board of Directors will hold a planning retreat on October 26th to review the survey results along with information gathered from interviews with 20 leaders in related fields, discussions with artists and art historians held at the Clark Research Institute September 19 – 24, and ideas from the CAA standing committees. The Task Force on the 2015-2020 Strategic Plan (www.collegeart.org/about/plan) will prepare a draft of the plan before the February 2014 Annual Conference.
All members are invited to attend the Open Discussion on the Future of CAA at the Annual Members Business Meeting at the Annual Conference in Chicago on Friday, February 14th, 5:30 PM.
Some 670 members expressed interest in one or more of CAA’s 16 different committees, juries, or editorial boards. If you would like to become more involved with CAA and wish to pursue your interest, please contact Vanessa Jalet (vjalet@collegeart.org); information about the various committees is also available on the CAA website (www.collegeart.org/committees/).
And, congratulations to Monta May and Mimi Whalen whose names were selected at random for a one-year, complimentary, individual membership with CAA!
Thank you for your time and ideas.
Report on Part-Time Faculty in Art History and Studio Art
posted by Linda Downs — June 07, 2013
The more information that is made available on critical issues in the field, the greater a case can be made for advocacy to promote change. One of the major challenges for the visual-arts field is ensuring that all faculty are properly supported so that they may provide outstanding teaching, research and creative work. It is estimated that over 70% of faculty at colleges and universities in the United States are now hired on a contingent bases. This upward trend began in the 1970s and appears to dominate the future.
Data on working conditions of part-time faculty is not easily available since the funding for the National Study on Postsecondary Faculty at the Department of Education was discontinued in 2003. Data on art history, studio art, and art education faculty is even more difficult to obtain since visual arts and performing arts faculty were historically aggregated together by the Department of Education.
In response to the lack of data, the Coalition on the Academic Workforce, http://www.academicworkforce.org/ comprising twenty six academic associations including CAA, organized an extensive survey. The report on this survey was published in June 2012 http://www.academicworkforce.org/CAW_portrait_2012.pdf. Of the 20,000 part-time faculty participating in the survey, 1,034 were CAA members. The data they contributed has been compiled and is now available [http://www.collegeart.org/pdf/CAA-CAWContingentFacultySurvey.pdf].
Some of the major findings from the art historians, artists and art educators indicate that: 1) part-time faculty in the visual arts field have a slightly higher salary rate than the median; 2) there are gender disparities in salaries within the visual arts; and 3) resources and benefits provided by institutions are two to three times lower for visual-arts faculty than the full sample of respondents.
What is CAA doing to address these issues? The Board adopted the Guidelines for Part-Time Faculty in 2004. The Professional Practices Committee under the chairmanship of Jim Hopfensperger and an ad hoc committee led by Tom Berding and CAA board member, John Richardson are working to update these guidelines to respond to present needs in order to provide standards for the field.
Several CAA annual conference sessions have been devoted to resources for administrators and part-time faculty. At the 2013 New York Annual Conference, a panel which included John Curtis from the American Association of University Professors and Rosemary Feal from the Modern Language Association, among others, provided valuable resources for networking among part-time faculty. An example is organizations such as CAW that are actively addressing workforce issues and state and national government advocacy. These resources can be found at http://www.collegeart.org/resources/contingentfaculty.
The CAA Board has organized a planning task force of members to address critical issues in the field over the next five years. The profound changes in the structure of faculty, teaching formats, digital research, publishing and creative work are some of the greatest challenges identified. The members of the task force welcome your comments in shaping how CAA can address these and other major issues of our profession. Please send your ideas and comments to CAA at nyoffice@collegeart.org.
I would like to thank Peter Bucchianeri at Harvard University for compiling the data and writing the report on the responses of CAA member respondents to the contingent faculty survey.
Members of the 2013–14 Nominating Committee
posted by Vanessa Jalet — May 21, 2013
CAA is pleased to announce the members of the 2013–14 Nominating Committee, which is charged with identifying and interviewing potential candidates for the Board of Directors and selecting the final slate of candidates for the membership’s vote. The committee members, their institutional affiliations, and their positions are:
- DeWitt Godfrey, Colgate University, Vice President for Committees and Chair
- Dina Bangdel, Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar and Member at Large
- Leslie Bellavance, Alfred University and CAA Board Liaison
- Kevin Hamilton, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and Member at Large
- Beauvais Lyons, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and Member at Large
- Denise Mullen, Oregon College of Art and Craft and CAA Board Liaison
- Sabina Ott, Columbia College Chicago and CAA Board Liaison
- Melissa Potter, Columbia College Chicago and Member at Large
- Linda Downs, CAA Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer (ex officio)
The 2012–13 Nominating Committee chose the new members of the committee at its recent business meeting, held during the 2013 Annual Conference in New York in February. The Board of Directors also appointed three liaisons. CAA publishes a call for nominations and self-nominations for Nominating Committee service on the website in late fall of every year and publicizes it in CAA News. Please direct all queries regarding the committee to Vanessa Jalet, CAA executive liaison.
Reflections on the Annual Conference, the Year Past, and the Year to Come
posted by Anne Collins Goodyear — March 05, 2013
Anne Collins Goodyear is president of the CAA Board of Directors.
CAA’s Annual Conference was typically lively and rewarding. With nearly six thousand participants, representing all fifty states—and the District of Columbia—and fifty-three countries, CAA hosted well over two hundred sessions addressing a broad range of topics, including contemporary art practice, criticism, pedagogy, issues in museums, and the history of art. As participation in the conference by colleagues from around the world continues to grow, we were pleased to welcome twenty recipients of CAA International Travel Grants, generously supported by the Getty Foundation, and further discussed by Ann Albritton, Chair of CAA’s International Committee, in an article that will soon be published on the CAA website.
The conference took advantage of new technologies, providing, for the first time, wireless internet access free of charge to conference goers throughout the conference rooms, and making possible the broad spread use of Skype to involve panelists and respondents unable to be in New York. CAA also hosted its first ever THATCamp (The Humanities And Technology) on February 11 and 12, fully subscribed with seventy-five scholars, just before the official start of the conference. A follow up session held during the conference continued a stimulating discussion about the promise and current role of new technologies for art historians.
New technologies are shaping CAA’s publications, two of which celebrate major milestones this year. The Annual Conference enabled us to mark the centennial of The Art Bulletin and the fifteenth anniversary of caa.reviews—both of which were toasted with cake and champagne following our Annual Members’ Business Meeting. In connection with this, each publication, thanks to a $20,000 grant from the Alliance for Networking Visual Culture, has undertaken open-access online projects using the Scalar platform. Thelma Thomas, chair of the Art Bulletin Editorial Board, graciously demonstrated her online compilation “Publishing The Art Bulletin: Past, Present, and Future,” (http://scalar.usc.edu/anvc/the-art-bulletin/index) at the meeting. A forthcoming Scalar project by the caa.reviews editor-in chief, Sheryl Reiss, will address the exhibition Bernini: Sculpting in Clay at the Kimbell Art Museum.
As the terrain of scholarly publishing continues to evolve, the high cost of scholarly publications, due in large part to the necessity of obtaining copyright and other clearance permissions for reproductions, concerns all of us. CAA is thus deeply appreciative of a one-year Meiss/Mellon Author Grant for $69,698 to offer subventions to emerging scholars who are publishing monographs in art history and visual studies and to advertise the award. Applications for the first round of the Meiss/Mellon Author’s Book Award are now being accepted. The deadline for spring submissions is March 15, 2013. Fall applications are due October 1, 2013. For more information see: http://www.collegeart.org/meissmellon/.
The larger question of when copyrighted material may be used without licensing in accordance with the principles of fair use is at the heart of a major initiative by CAA to establish Fair Use Best Practice Guidelines, undertaken with the assistance of generous support from the Kress and Mellon Foundations. The project is addressed in greater depth in Jeffrey Cunard’s article, published today. See: https://www.collegeart.org/news/2013/03/05/caas-task-force-on-fair-use-meets-during-annual-conference/.
As the Strategic Plan for 2010–2015 draws to its conclusion (available at http://www.collegeart.org/about/plan), the Board of Directors has now embarked, having convened a task force for the purpose, on the development of a 2015–2020 Strategic Plan. We are eager for your input into the plan and to hear from you about what you feel is working well within the organization and where our services could be strengthened. A related survey will be distributed later this year, and key issues will be discussed with the CAA membership next February at the 2014 Annual Members’ Business Meeting.
As always, CAA welcomes input from its membership on any topic of interest to the field. Please feel free to consult directly with the staff and board and/or to take advantage of CAA’s Facebook page to share your views. See: https://www.facebook.com/collegeartassociation.
Board of Directors’ Meeting
posted by Linda Downs — March 05, 2013
Anne Collins Goodyear and Linda Downs
Sunday, February 17, 2013
The CAA Board of Directors convened its regularly scheduled meeting after the conference and welcomed Abigail Van Slyck, President, Society of Architectural Historians and Dayton Professor of Art History and Associate Dean of the Faculty, Connecticut College; and Pauline Saliga, Executive Director, Society of Architectural Historians as guests. Van Slyck presented the latest initiatives of the SAH and extended an invitation to CAA to explore projects of mutual interest. The latest collaboration was on the development of the CAA authors’ grants funded for one year by the A.W. Mellon Foundation.
President, Anne Collin Goodyear, announced the election results for the new CAA Board members—Constance Cortez, Jennifer Milam, Sheila Pepe and John Richardson—and thanked everyone who ran for these positions. She also thanked Board members rotating off: Patricia Matthews, Barbara Nesin, Past President; and Randall Griffin, outgoing Vice President for Publications. She then congratulated staff and Board members on the Annual Conference, and presented her annual report, providing updates on major Board initiatives and CAA accomplishments. (See, in this issue of CAA News, Goodyear’s “Reflections on the Annual Conference, the Year Past, and the Year to Come,” https://www.collegeart.org/news/2013/03/05/reflections-on-the-annual-conference-the-year-past-and-the-year-to-come/.
The officers of the Board of Directors and the Senior Staff presented their annual reports to the Board (coming soon).
Jeffrey P. Cunard, CAA Counsel and cochair of the Task Force on Fair Use, presented the method and procedure being followed in this four-year project to develop a code of fair use in creative work and scholarly publishing in the visual arts.
The Executive Director, the Senior Staff, and officers of the Board of Directors presented their annual report to the Board (coming soon).
Consistent with CAA practice, the Vice President for Committees presented three triennial reviews of three of the nine Professional Interests, Practices, and Standards Committees (PIPS). This year the Diversity Practices Committee, Education Committee, and Museum Committees were reviewed and renewed.
The Professional Practices Committee updated and submitted for adoption by the board, the Standards for Sculptural Reproduction and Preventive Measures to Combat Unethical Casting in Bronze. It was adopted with one abstention. See: http://www.collegeart.org/guidelines/sculpture.
Jacqueline Francis, Vice President for Annual Conference, presented the final report of the Task Force on Annual Conference Technologies and announced that many of the recommendations will be implemented at the 2014 Annual Conference in Chicago. See: https://www.collegeart.org/news/2013/03/05/final-report-of-the-task-force-on-annual-conference-technologies/.
Francis reported on the success of THAT Camp (The Humanities and Technology Camp) held in conjunction with the CAA Annual Conference in New York and coorganized by Columbia University Libraries, Smarthistory at Khan Academy, The Samuel H. Kress Foundation, Macaulay Honors College, Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University. Seventy five people attended and shared their online publications, discussed issues in online publishing, constructed an online survey textbook in one hour, and exchanged ideas for networking and gathering information on art history databases. Plans are to hold THATCamp at the 2014 Annual Conference in Chicago.
The annual election of officers took place. The new officers are:
Vice President for External Affairs – Maria Ann Conelli
Vice President for Committees – DeWitt Godfrey
Vice President for Annual Conference – Jacqueline Francis
Vice President for Publications – Suzanne Preston Blier
Secretary – Patricia McDonnell
The following Board members were elected to the Nominating Committee: Leslie Bellevance, Denise Mullen, and Sabina Ott.
The subject of fees charged by universities to apply for university faculty positions was discussed. CAA has posted a comment on the Online Career Center stating that the association does not condone this practice.
CAA Seeks Nominations for 2014–18 Board Service
posted by Vanessa Jalet — February 18, 2013
CAA seeks nominations and self-nominations from individuals interested in shaping the future of the organization by serving on the Board of Directors for the 2014–18 term. The board is responsible for all financial and policy matters related to the organization. It promotes excellence in scholarship and teaching in the history and criticism of the visual arts, and it encourages creativity and technical skill in the teaching and practice of art. CAA’s board is also charged with representing the membership on issues affecting the visual arts and the humanities.
Candidates must be current CAA members. Nominations and self-nominations should include the following information: the nominee’s name, affiliation, address, email address, and telephone number, as well as the name, affiliation, and email address of the nominator, if different from the nominee. Please send all information by mail or email to: Vanessa Jalet, Executive Liaison, College Art Association, 50 Broadway, 21st Floor, New York, NY 10004. Deadline: April 1, 2013.
Results of the 2013–17 Board of Directors Election
posted by Vanessa Jalet — February 15, 2013
The CAA Board of Directors welcomes four newly elected members, who will serve from 2013 to 2017:
- Constance Cortez, Associate Professor of Art History, Texas Tech University
- Jennifer Milam, Professor of Art History, University of Sydney
- Sheila Pepe, Artist and Acting Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs, School of Art and Design, Pratt Institute
- John Richardson, Professor and Chair of the Department of Art and Art History, Wayne State University
Anne Collins Goodyear, CAA board president, announced the election results during the Annual Members’ Business Meeting, held on Friday, February 15, at the 101st Annual Conference in New York.
The Board of Directors is charged with CAA’s long-term financial stability and strategic direction; it is also the association’s governing body. The board sets policy regarding all aspects of CAA’s activities, including publishing, the Annual Conference, awards and fellowships, advocacy, and committee procedures.
For the annual board election, CAA members vote for no more than four candidates; they also cast votes for write-in candidates (who must be CAA members). The four candidates receiving the most votes are elected to the board.
Board of Directors Election Ends on Friday
posted by Vanessa Jalet — February 11, 2013
The annual CAA Board of Directors election will end at 5:00 PM (EST) on Friday, February 15, 2013. To participate, all you need is your CAA member ID number and password. Visit the board-election page or click the candidates’ names below to read their statements, biographies, and endorsements—and to watch their video presentations—before casting your vote.
- Elizabeth Conner, Artist and Instructor, University of Washington Tacoma
- Constance Cortez, Associate Professor of Art History, Texas Tech University
- Jennifer Milam, Professor of Art History, University of Sydney
- Debra Riley Parr, Chair of the Fashion Studies Department, Columbia College Chicago
- Sheila Pepe, Artist and Acting Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs, School of Art and Design, Pratt Institute
- John Richardson, Professor and Chair of the Department of Art and Art History, Wayne State University
How to Vote
Log into your CAA account with your CAA User ID# and password. Then click the Vote Now image at the center of your screen to begin the process. If you are already logged in, click the Home link at left, and then the Vote Now link.
You may vote for up to four candidates, including one write-in candidate if you wish. Ballots that indicate more than four candidates will be voided. The election ends at 5:00 PM (EST) on Friday, February 15, 2013.
Send your Proxy
CAA encourages you to attend the Annual Members’ Business Meeting at the 2013 Annual Conference in New York. If you cannot attend, please check the box appointing a proxy. By doing so, you appoint the CAA board officers named thereon—Anne Collins Goodyear, Patricia McDonnell, DeWitt Godfrey, Jacqueline Francis, Randall C. Griffin, and Maria Ann Conelli—to vote, in their discretion, on such matters as may properly come before such a meeting.
A quorum of one hundred members is needed to hold the meeting; therefore CAA kindly requests your proxy to ensure the meeting can take place. Please send your proxy by 5:00 PM EST on Friday, February 15, 2013. Thank you.
Vote Online in the 2013–17 Board of Directors Election
posted by Vanessa Jalet — January 07, 2013
The annual CAA Board of Directors election has begun. To participate, all you need is your CAA member ID number and password. Visit the board-election page or click the candidates’ names below to read their statements, biographies, and endorsements—and to watch their video presentations—before casting your vote.
- Elizabeth Conner, Artist and Instructor, University of Washington Tacoma
- Constance Cortez, Associate Professor of Art History, Texas Tech University
- Jennifer Milam, Professor of Art History, University of Sydney
- Debra Riley Parr, Chair of the Fashion Studies Department, Columbia College Chicago
- Sheila Pepe, Artist and Acting Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs, School of Art and Design, Pratt Institute
- John Richardson, Professor and Chair of the Department of Art and Art History, Wayne State University
How to Vote
Log into your CAA account with your CAA User ID# and password. Then click the Vote Now image at the center of your screen to begin the process. If you are already logged in, click the Home link at left, and then the Vote Now link.
You may vote for up to four candidates, including one write-in candidate if you wish. Ballots that indicate more than four candidates will be voided. The election ends at 5:00 PM (EST) on Friday, February 15, 2013.
Send your Proxy
CAA encourages you to attend the Annual Members’ Business Meeting at the 2013 Annual Conference in New York. If you cannot attend, please check the box appointing a proxy. By doing so, you appoint the CAA board officers named thereon—Anne Collins Goodyear, Patricia McDonnell, DeWitt Godfrey, Jacqueline Francis, Randall C. Griffin, and Maria Ann Conelli—to vote, in their discretion, on such matters as may properly come before such a meeting.
A quorum of one hundred members is needed to hold the meeting; therefore CAA kindly requests your proxy to ensure the meeting can take place. Please send your proxy by 5:00 PM EST on Friday, February 15, 2013. Thank you.