As summer warms up, I hope you are thoroughly enjoying the season. Campus is a bit quiet now that most of the students have gone home, but there are some major activities—and changes—happening at Ohio State and in the College of the Arts that I want to share with you.

With Gordon Gee back on campus, there is a fresh, invigorating energy everywhere, and happily this energy extends to the arts, too. There is strong new focus on the arts at Ohio State, and a new position—the associate vice president of arts outreach—has been created. As of July 1st I am happily embracing that role.

The new arts outreach office will allow us to bring unified vision, advocacy and visibility to the arts on campus and in our communities, both local and global. We will advocate for broad community connections with the arts at Ohio State, and consider many ways to bring the community to campus... and our campus arts to the community. I am incredibly excited to work in this important new post.

In addition, OSU is embarking on a process of restructuring the Arts and Sciences. John Roberts will now serve as dean of the College of Humanities and the College of the Arts. I have great confidence that our school and our departments will continue to excel with John’s leadership. Our chairs and directors remain in their leadership roles with our individual units.

As these changes take place, I will remain close to the College of the Arts, working to support the arts in a big way. Remember, you can always reach me at bell.1@osu.edu.

Please excuse us if you’ve received this information more than once.


Sending you best wishes for a glorious summer,

Karen A. Bell
Associate Vice President for Arts Outreach