The College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) has announced two associate dean appointments. The appointments will allow Arthur Jensen, VPA’s senior associate dean of academic affairs and a professor of communication and rhetorical studies in the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies, to take a research leave for the 2012-13 academic year.
James A. Clark, VPA associate dean of assessment and accreditation and a professor in the Department of Drama, will assume the role of associate dean of academic affairs for the 2012-13 academic year. Clark’s duties for the college will include promotion and tenure processes, full-time faculty search and hire processes and academic policy implementation.
Stephen Zaima, professor and program coordinator of painting in the Department of Art, will be appointed to the new position of associate dean of global academic programs and initiatives effective January 2012. Zaima’s duties in this ongoing position will include serving as a liaison to Syracuse University Abroad and University College, overseeing the college’s summer programs abroad and coordinating VPA programs in such U.S. locations as New York City and Los Angeles.
Both Clark and Zaima will work closely with Kendall Phillips, the college’s associate dean of research and graduate studies and a professor of communication and rhetorical studies.
“One of the many benefits of being appointed to a full-time faculty position at a university is the ability to take a research leave to pursue creative and scholarly work,” says VPA Dean Ann Clarke. “For faculty members who also serve as full-time administrators, doing so can be particularly challenging. Together, Jim, Stephen and Kendall will serve the college well and allow Arthur to pursue his first research leave in 22 years of service to VPA.”
Jensen will devote his leave to researching and developing materials for the web-based effort the Cosmopolis 2045 Project, for which he is lead developer. This collaborative endeavor depicts the life of a social community, set in the year 2045, in which residents/citizens have collectively evolved a sophisticated understanding of their social connectedness and engage in a wide variety of practices, including more mindful use of communication tools.
Clark served as chair of the Department of Drama and producing director of Syracuse Stage from 1992-2007. He was managing director of Syracuse Stage and a drama department faculty member from 1976-1992. He has served on the executive committee of the League of Resident Theatres (LORT) and on the board of directors for Theatre Communications Group (TCG). He has been a consultant and on-site reporter for the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts and numerous theater companies and university drama programs. In Syracuse, he has served as a member of the University Hill Corp. and the East Genesee Regent Association, as well as on the board of the Community Wide Dialogue to End Racism.
Zaima has been painting program coordinator since 2001 and has organized the visiting artist and speakers series for more than 20 years. In 2005, he organized the memorial installation of “To Never Forget: Faces of the Fallen,” an exhibition of more than 1,400 paintings of the U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq from March 2003-2005, garnering national attention. He also coordinated the SU Abroad studio art programs in Florence and London. He has been active with various global initiatives at VPA, including the “Art in New York City” Maymester course and the Ginsburg-Klaus Art in Los Angeles Week. His work has been shown nationally as well as in Europe and Asia, and he is working on a biography of artist Max Cole. He is also a member of the Screen Actors Guild.
