Lynne Allen to Serve as Interim Dean of CFA

Lynne Allen, director of the CFA School of Visual Arts, will become the college’s dean ad interim in May. Photo by Vernon Doucette

Lynne Allen has been named College of Fine Arts dean ad interim, beginning May 18. Allen is a CFA professor of art and director of the School of Visual Arts (SVA). University Provost Jean Morrison recently announced the indefinite suspension of the search committee to find a replacement for CFA Dean Benjamin Juárez, who will step down after Commencement. Juárez became dean in 2010, succeeding Walt Meissner (CFA’81), who had been dean ad interim for eight years.

“Given the series of internal work that will be required in the College of Fine Arts to determine how we should move forward, I’m very pleased to announce Lynne Allen has agreed to serve as dean ad interim,” Morrison says. Jeannette Guillemin (MET’00, SED’07), currently SVA assistant director and director of student affairs, will be director ad interim.

Allen holds a master’s in education from the University of Washington and a master’s in fine arts from the University of New Mexico. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and is in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Modern Art Library, and the New York Public Library, among others. Her art combines natural and synthetic materials and techniques, ranging from lithograph to photogravure. Much of it draws on her Sioux heritage.

BU Today spoke with Allen about her planned “listening tour” of CFA’s three schools, the biggest challenges the schools face, and the wealth of artistic, musical, and theatrical talent at BU.

BU Today: Will your dual roles as School of Visual Arts director and College of Fine Arts dean overlap at all?

Allen: Yes, there is overlap this spring. I’m going on a listening tour to visit staff and faculty in CFA. I plan to meet with everyone, to get a clear understanding of how each school currently operates.

How long have you been at CFA?

I came here in 2006 from Rutgers University, so this is my ninth year.

What is your mission as interim dean?

The provost and the president suspended the CFA dean search because they felt that CFA was not positioned to undertake a national search at this time. Rather than invest the resources, both human and financial, in a national search, they felt we should focus our efforts on clearly and carefully identifying the strengths and weaknesses within the programs of the schools. From there we can address the fundamental question of where to place the appropriate structure and strategic vision for our three schools that will enable us to make the strongest case for recruiting outstanding leadership for the entire college.

Will you continue teaching?

I will no longer teach at SVA, but in spring 2016 I will team-teach one course that is part of the CFA arts leadership minor. Dean Juárez inaugurated this course, and I believe it is very valuable.

What responsibilities have prepared you for this position?

I have had previous administrative experience while at Rutgers, where over the course of 19 years I worked with faculty and staff in building a variety of programs. Since arriving here in 2006, I have been on many University committees, which has given me the benefit of learning more about BU and meeting incredible people from both campuses. This has been very valuable in that I understand the mission of the University and am committed to it.

What do you see as CFA’s strengths? What’s working really well right now?

CFA’s mission is to educate students to be at the top of their professions, whether visual, musical, or theatrical. We do that incredibly well.

We have excellent faculty across the board. They’re professionally active and set a fine example of what a career in the arts can be. I think that’s a real strength.

But I also think that we are plagued by the circumstances of our time. As is true with the humanities, we are seeing a downslide of interest in the arts. A lot of students and parents want to know, can these students get a job? Those of us who deal with culture, who deal with the longevity of our society’s heart, let’s say, try to bring to light the importance of what we do. We are about actually looking at the world around us and expressing what we see in theater, in music, and in the visual arts. That’s important, because when you look back at civilizations, what is left behind? It’s either the artistic accomplishments of a culture or its implements of war. Which one of those would we rather have be our legacy?

Hasn’t that challenge of artists earning a living always been true to some extent?

I think students are concerned about paying back their school loans, but I also think students are studying what they are studying because they cannot imagine doing anything else. That has never changed. We hope to teach students to have a thirst for getting what they want and to be involved in the things that interest them. I believe this generation is very entrepreneurial, and we offer avenues for them to grow their interests. The Arts Leadership minor is a perfect example. You know times have changed when Kickstarter generates more funding for creative projects than the National Endowment for the Arts.

What people don’t realize is that creative people are sitting in boardrooms and creating start-ups all over the world, whether they’re painters, musicians, or engineers. We have statistics on what alumni are doing, so we know that our students actually do get jobs, and good ones. I also think we don’t tell our story well enough, and we also need to look at the changing world and how we can adapt to it. Otherwise, we are outdated and we’re not keeping up with the times and are less competitive.

What can be done about that?

The School of Visual Arts is a fine arts conservatory, for lack of a better word, within a major university. Students learn the discipline of a strong studio practice and have expectations for hard work. But our job is also to meld the exceptional art capabilities of our talented students with required liberal arts electives, because we believe that what they learn about the world, and increasingly about themselves, makes them better artists. Today there is a wider interest in dual degrees, because of the economic climate and the cost of a college education. At SVA we have embraced making this decision possible. Through ever-increasing electives and connections across the University, our students have considerable latitude within the curriculum for cross-disciplinary exploration. There are no locked doors or impediments to pursuing one’s goals. Currently we have a senior sculptor who’s also an engineering major. Basically, we want our students to engage themselves intellectually in both their artistic discipline and the broader University.

How has CFA embraced new media and cutting-edge technologies?

Digital technology has blurred and in some cases completely obliterated boundaries between the local and the global. The School of Music has broadcast musical performances digitally to other countries. At SVA we have integrated more digital options in all of our courses, as well as specific electives. Students might be drawing on iPads in freshman drawing or working on the computer to make digital prints in printmaking. We have added animation courses, motion graphics, info design, and web design and coding, and created design labs where students work with real clients. The graphic design department absolutely rejuvenated itself in the last six years.

So those graduates have a real edge.

I think so. Their education is broad; they are professionalized before they even leave our doors. There are so many options for students once they leave BU. All our students can take a design course and/or a broad set of electives, whether in business or web design, to increase their marketability. All students have internships as early as freshman year, which often lead to full-time employment.

What other collaborations are going on at CFA?

I know the School of Theatre is involved with the School of Law and working with the School of Management, and the School of Music has programs on the Medical Campus. Visual Arts has linked with Media Ventures at the College of Communication, where several students complete a fifth year MS degree working between Boston and Los Angeles. The graduate painters work with graduate students in poetry and produce artist’s books. Designers work with students at SMG on branding projects and act as critics. The College of Engineering’s EPIC (Engineering Product Innovation Center) has been a real boon to SVA for just about every major, and we now have a connection with ENG working with our experimental photography class. Students use high-speed cameras and work with engineering students in creating drones for aerial photography. We like to partner, because artists are really interested in everything, and every connection is something they can use later in their careers. It also creates collaborations, which are the types of thing one sees in industry. We need a lot of different talent around the table.

How is the entrepreneurial spirit reflected in the School of Music?

I don’t know all the ways in which they encourage entrepreneurship—that’s the basis of my listening tour. Music is involved in BU’s BA program in the Massachusetts prison system, which I know is pivotal to changing lives, as I have visited myself. There is a strong performance aspect to the school and most students come to study with a specific professor. Many music alumni are performing with major symphonies around the world, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra. It is my goal to learn what other ways music touches the communities around these students.

How much of your challenge as interim dean is getting the message out about the versatility of an arts education here?

We should not have the mentality that we are waiting for someone to discover us. It’s our job to present ourselves so that our strengths are visible. I believe it is the perfect time to look beyond what we are currently doing, and expand upon it. I don’t think things just happen: you make them happen. This is a challenge for any program.

So, in general, how would you describe the state of CFA?

There are a lot of things that work very well; we have dedicated faculty and exceptional students. I am blown away by the talent in the college. The challenge for us is how we see our place in the 21st century, a challenge all colleges at BU are embracing. Everybody needs to retool for the century in which they live, and I think that’s something we need to be mindful of at CFA.

Having said that, we have all the tools, the intellect, and the passion to forge the way.