Catherine Cole, Divisional Dean of the Arts has stepped down from the role she has held since 2016. After coming to UW from UC Berkeley in 2016, Dean Cole was an immediate champion of the arts, overseeing five academic departments, two museums, and the Meany Center for the Performing Arts. Dean Cole made many significant contributions to the Arts Division: she led and supported division-wide efforts in equity, diversity, inclusion, and access; she solicited and managed a major grant from the Mellon Foundation to support faculty research and new course development, she secured additional resources to increase funding opportunities for faculty research; she oversaw the renovation of the ArtsUW website; she has been a tremendous advocate for making the arts central on our campus with the goal of making it a part of every student’s UW experience.
Dean Cole’s areas of expertise include human rights, law and performance, African theater and performance in national and transnational contexts, and disability studies. She has published about theatre and dance and has received several notable fellowships, including one from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
The College of Arts and Sciences is fortunate that Dean Cole will be staying at UW. She will be teaching in the Department of English and School of Dance. The School of Drama thanks Catherine for her years of support and we are looking forward to continuing to work together!