Grady named chair of ASU’s Department of Art

Michael Grady has been named chair of Appalachian State University’s Department of Art effective Aug. 1.

Grady comes to Appalachian from John F. Kennedy University in Berkeley, Calif., where he has served as professor and chair of the Department of Arts and Consciousness since 1994.

He replaces Dr. Marilyn Smith, professor of graphic design, who has served as the department’s interim chair since July 2007. She will return to the faculty.

From 2004 to 2006 Grady was the interim dean of JFKU School of Holistic Studies, which housed his home department as well as the Departments of Counseling Psychology, Holistic Health Education and Integral Studies.

“I look forward to working with Mr. Grady. I believe he has the vision, excitement and experience to lead the department and expand upon the success achieved by the faculty and in its programs,” said Dr. Glenda Treadaway, dean of Appalachian’s College of Fine and Applied Arts. “I also would like to thank Dr. Smith for her service to the department, college and university these past two years.”

“I see the art department as being a key element in the exciting new changes that are occurring in the College of Fine and Applied Arts as well as the larger university community,” Grady said. “I believe that all of the ingredients exist in Appalachian to create a dynamic new emphasis on the arts – particularly in relation to environmental and social sustainability, health and technology. I know of no other college that has such potential for the exploration of new and innovative ways for the arts to serve the community and culture.”

Grady has worked at the San Francisco Art Institute, serving first as director of admissions and then as dean of students. He was assistant director of admissions for art and design at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, N.Y., and was a counselor for the Family Youth Center of Downstate Medical Center at the State University of New York.

In addition, he has served as visiting instructor at The Learning Connection in Wellington, New Zealand, and for the High School for Performing and Visual Arts in Houston, Texas. Grady has been an adjunct instructor for the Academy of Art College in San Francisco, Calif., and at the San Francisco Art Institute. He was a teaching assistant at Boston Museum School at Tufts University in Boston.

Grady holds a bachelor of fine arts degree from Tufts University, a diploma and a fifth year honors diploma from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and a master of fine arts from the Pratt Institute.

Grady is a painter. His work combines Asian, European and American traditions of abstraction and landscape.

Accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design, Appalachian’s Department of Art offers degrees in graphic design, studio art, art education, art management and art history. The department chair provides academic, artistic and administrative leadership and vision to the programs within the department.