Higher Education Division Column: Summer 2023

Every journey is an adventure. On our various life journeys, we plan, explore, seek, find, learn, grow, and experience new horizons and revisit memorable ones. As I begin my 2-year journey as Higher Education Director, I am so very thankful for all the many educators who have influenced my personal life and professional career, and I continue my calling and quest to lift up and support others as they traverse their journeys.

It is with such great excitement that I now begin a new journey with our talented 2023–2025 Higher Education Leadership Team. I extend a warm welcome to my colleagues, who will be serving as the Higher Education Division Director-Elect and Regional Directors, by introducing them here in my first column as Director. For the next 2 years, we will passionately serve art education and higher education, and we will forge discussion and action within our Division. We invite you all to come along on our journey of service. Also, connect with our online journey through our private Facebook group—NAEA Higher Education Division—or follow us on NAEA Collaborate. And now, let’s meet and welcome the incoming team—a balance of early, mid-, and late-career scholars and practitioners.

Director-Elect: Yichien Cooper, Assistant Professor, Washington State University, ycooper@wsu.edu

Yichien Cooper’s research interests include integrated arts, STEAM, mapping, data visualization, arts-based and narrative inquiry, and Asian arts and culture. She has published extensively in English and Chinese and has presented at national and international conferences. She received the 2023 United States Society of Education through Art Ziegfeld Award.

Western Region Director: Christina Bain, Associate Professor, Graduate Art Education Program Advisor, University of Texas, chrisbain@austin.utexas.edu

Christina Bain’s teaching and research interests are intertwined, focusing on issues related to preservice preparation, collaboration, curriculum, ED&I, games, mentoring, research, and ethics. She has presented widely at state, national, and international conferences.

Eastern Region Co-Director: Hazel L. Bradshaw-Beaumont, Professor, Delaware State University, hbeaumont@desu.edu

Hazel L. Bradshaw-Beaumont is a native of Jamaica. She earned a PhD in Art Education from The Ohio State University with a research interest in the philosophical and psychological aspects of art in education. She has a combined 41 years’ experience in higher education and has published several journal articles and book chapters, and she has presented numerous research articles both nationally and internationally.

Eastern Region Co-Director: Sohee Koo, Assistant Professor, Graduate Program Director of Art Education, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, soheekoo@umass.edu

Sohee Koo is an artist and educator whose research investigates how learning through the arts can be designed to support young people’s transformative learning experiences regarding their identities as learners and creatives, their approaches to artmaking, and their understanding of the arts. Koo holds an MFA in Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts and a doctorate (EdD) in Art and Art Education from Teachers College, Columbia University.

Pacific Region Director: Dustin Garnet, Associate Professor, California State University, Los Angeles, dgarnet2@calstatela.edu

Dustin Garnet is President of the California Art Education Association and co-chair of the NAEA History and Historiography in Art Education Interest Group. Garnet presents and publishes nationally and internationally on various topics, including art education history, material culture, and critical multiculturalism.

Southeastern Region Director: Hayon Park, Assistant Professor, George Mason University, hpark56@gmu.edu

Hayon Park is the author of Rancière and Emancipatory Art Pedagogies: The Politics of Childhood Art (2023) and coeditor of Visual Arts With Young Children: Practices, Pedagogies, and Learning (2021). Park also serves as an associate director of the Center for the Study of Childhood Art.

[[image "NAEA Higher Education Division Directors, left to right: (top row) Yichien Cooper, Christina Bain, Hazel Bradshaw-Beaumont; (bottom row) Dustin Garnet, Sohee Koo, and Hayon Park."]]

Column by:

Trina Harlow, Higher Education Division Director
Adjunct Professor of Art Education, University of North Texas, Denton. Email: drtrinaharlow@gmail.com

Elect: Yichien Cooper, Assistant Professor, Washington State University Tri-Cities, Richland. ycooper@wsu.edu

Regional Directors:
Eastern: Hazel L. Bradshaw-Beaumont, hbeaumont@desu.edu; Sohee Koo, soheekoo@umass.edu
Southeastern: Hayon Park, hpark56@gmu.edu
Western: Christina Bain, chrisbain@austin.utexas.edu
Pacific: Dustin Garnet, dgarnet2@calstatela.edu