Dean Bernie Schultz of the West Virginia University College of Creative Arts has been appointed to the West Virginia Commission on the Arts by Governor Joe Manchin, III.
The West Virginia Commission on the Arts serves as a citizen advisory board to the West Virginia Division of Culture and History. The Commission members work with artists, arts organizations, schools, and community groups to foster a fertile environment for the artistic, cultural, educational and economic development of the state.
Schultz is also professor of art history at WVU and director of the Creative Arts Center. In 2006, he received a Governor’s Arts Award for Leadership and Service.
“Dr. Bernie Schultz adds to the Commission on the Arts a unique perspective on the role of the arts in our society, said Jeff Pierson, Secretary-Ex-officio of the West Virginia Commission on the Arts. “His thorough analysis will be vital to our funding decisions. I look forward to getting to know him and discussing his views.”
Schultz feels honored by this appointment. “Commissioner Randall Reid-Smith is bringing vision and vitality to the arts and culture of our state,” he said. “It is a privilege to work with him, his dedicated staff, and the members of the Commission—all of whom are passionate about the meaningfulness that arts bring to the lives of our citizens.”
Schultz earned his master’s and doctoral degrees in art history from the University of Pittsburgh, where later he was named a Frick Fine Arts Distinguished Alumnus.
His teaching career brought him to WVU in 1977 as an art professor specializing in Italian Renaissance art and art history survey classes. He has been recognized for outstanding and innovative teaching on a number of occasions.
Schultz is the author of the widely reviewed Art and Anatomy in Renaissance Italy (UMI Research Press, 1985) and Art Past/Art Present (with David Wilkins and Kathryn M. Linduff), a publication currently in its 6th edition, which has received national acclaim for breaking new ground in introductory texts in the study of art. The book is used by thousands of college students across the United States, and the trade edition appears in book stores around the world.
He has lectured on art history throughout the state and the surrounding region and he has also been a popular speaker at national conferences and meetings of artists, designers, educators, medical professionals, and historians, as well as at art museums and educational institutions. His biography is included in International Leaders in Achievement (1988) and Who’s Who in American Art (1986 and subsequent editions).
Schultz spearheaded the $11 million renovation of the Creative Arts Center’s major performing spaces in 2004, and he is currently working to establish an art museum adjacent to the Creative Arts Center that will serve the University, the Morgantown community and the surrounding region.
Schultz is also an active member of the arts community and he has advocated outreach by College of Creative Arts faculty to West Virginians and partnerships with professional arts organizations, including the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.
Specific activities of the WV Commission on the Arts include providing guidance to the commissioner and agency directors in the establishment of a state plan for the Arts Section; approving and distributing grants-in-aid and awards from federal and state funds; and advising and consenting to the appointment of agency directors by the commissioner.
-WVU-
cl/08/19/09
Contacts:
Charlene Lattea
Media Specialist, College of Creative Arts
Office: (304) 293-4841, ext. 3108