Meet the nominees for the 2024 NCAA Board of Directors

Laura Vandenburgh
Director, School of Art + Design
University of Oregon

Currently the Director of the School of Art + Design at the University of Oregon, Professor Laura Vandenburgh has taught drawing and painting in the UO Department of Art since 1998. She previously served as the Interim Dean for the College of Design and the Head of the Art Department at the UO. Vandenburgh’s drawing-based work has been exhibited nationally and internationally at museums, galleries and non-profit spaces in New York, Toronto, Hamburg, Portland, Seattle, Chicago, Montreal among others. Her studio practice has been supported by residencies and awards from Yaddo, the Oregon Arts Commission, the Ford Family Foundation, the Ucross Foundation and the Ragdale Foundation. In 2014, Vandenburgh received a UO Fund for Faculty Excellence Award. She held previous appointments at Syracuse University and Hunter College. Vandenburgh received her MFA from Hunter College in New York City, following a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree and a BS in Zoology from the University of California at Davis.

Statement
Never intending to enter academic administration, when called to do so, I discovered the importance of that work to facilitate the success of my colleagues and our students, and the educational mission I care deeply about. I realized that this is work we ourselves have to do; we make the institution what we believe it should be.  But, academic leadership is something you learn on the job, how to be a budget planner, strategic thinker and personnel manager.  I believe in NCAA’s mission to support peer to peer ongoing professional development, and have benefitted from the frank discussions about shared challenges and potential solutions.  If selected, I look forward to participating in the Board and working with peers to advance the organization.

 
Joe Poshek
Dean of the School of the Arts
Irvine Valley College in Southern California 

Joe Poshek is Dean of the School of the Arts at Irvine Valley College in Southern California. Prior to this appointment he also served as Dean of Visual & Performing Arts, Library and Online Education at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, California. In his administrative role, Poshek oversees Studio Art, Art History, Interactive Media Arts, Digital Media, Dance, Theater, Music and Communication Studies. Before becoming a Dean in early 2008, Joe was a tenured professor of music theory and a department chair.

He has presented at national and regional conferences on higher education topics such as Strengths Based Leadership,  neuroscience & organizational development, and professional development in higher education.

Prior to venturing into college administration Joe was a prolific professional musician specializing in classical and jazz guitar, recording six solo albums selling over 120,000 copies along with over 2500 performances on three continents. In addition to performing activities he has been an exhibiting visual artist creating works from wood including musical instruments. Poshek has also been a frequent guest lecturer at colleges and universities throughout Europe and the United States.

Born in Minneapolis, Poshek earned M.Mus and B.Mus degrees in classical guitar from the Manhattan School of Music in New York City and a B.A. in composition from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Statement:
It has been well documented that with many baby boomers looking toward retirement, higher education is facing critical shortages of academic administrators. Research has also shown that many mid-career faculty are reluctant to transition into these administrative rolls. Within the NCAA organization I would like to apply my experience as an academic administrator to promote the development of leadership in the arts in higher education. The need for nurturing arts leadership is acute.

In addition to the traditional transition from faculty to leadership positions typical to research institutions, the emergent reputation and growth of community college arts programs can serve as a pathway for leadership opportunities for the NCAA membership. I believe we could develop our areas of mentorship, career advancement workshops, best practices presentations, and additional areas of leadership development at both the annual conference and in our website design.

Paige Williams
Academic Dean, Chief Academic Officer and VP for Academic Affairs
Art Academy of Cincinnati

Paige Williams joined the full-time faculty at the Art Academy of Cincinnati (AAC) in 2002 and is currently the Academic Dean, Chief Academic Officer and Vice President for Academic Affairs. She received her MFA in Painting form the University of Cincinnati and is a two-time recipient of the Greater Cincinnati Collegiate Connection Excellence in Teaching Award. She has been a visiting evaluator for the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD) and at the 2022 NASAD Annual Meeting she was elected to serve a three-year term on the Commission on Accreditation. She serves on the Kentucky Institute for International Studies (KIIS) Board of Trustees.

Williams exhibits locally, nationally and internationally including exhibitions in Germany, the Ukraine, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York and has been selected as an Artist in Residence at the Millay Colony for the Arts in New York, The University of Alaska in Anchorage, The Neu Rathaus Gallery in Munich, Germany, and The Vermont Studio Center. She has been awarded the Summerfair Individual Artists Award and an Ohio Arts Council Individual Creativity Excellence Award. In 2020 she was selected for inclusion in Imagineers | Impresarios | Inventors: Cincinnati Arts and the Power of Her, a Celebration of the Role of Cincinnati’s Women in the Arts.   www.paigewilliams.net

Statement
I have been an active member of NCAA since 2018 when I was selected as a Distinguished Fellow and I was incredibly fortunate to have the famous Jim Hopfensberger as my mentor. I continue to value that relationship; he provided sincere and relevant feedback and continues to do so. I have since become a mentor and I greatly value the connection I have formed with my mentee, although I believe I learn as much from her as she does from me.

My belief that NCAA provides a valuable and unique space for the exchange of content, ideas and concerns facing higher education and our students prompted me to cohost NCAA’s National Conference along with the University of Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky University in 2019. I hosted an NCAA MEET-UP in April 2023 on Initiatives to Support Adjunct Faculty. I believe in being involved and present and hope that my time as an arts administrator at a small, private arts college would provide additional insight into the work we do.