Jean M.K. Miller will begin serving as dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communication at UMSL on July 1. (Photo courtesy of the University of North Texas in Denton)

Jean M.K. Miller has been named dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communication at the University of Missouri–St. Louis.

Miller, who will begin the position July 1, currently serves as associate dean of administrative affairs in the College of Visual Arts and Design at the University of North Texas in Denton. She oversees the Design Research Center in Dallas, and she’s served as acting dean of UNT’s Toulouse Graduate School.

“I was attracted to UMSL and the College of Fine Arts and Communication as both an administrator and an artist,” Miller said. “A diverse and talented faculty, staff and student body, strong programs and being acknowledged by the Carnegie Foundation as an institution that is truly engaged with St. Louis and metro-area communities were just a few of my considerations.”

Before joining UNT, Miller was chair of the Department of Art and Design, Art History and Art Education at Towson University in Maryland. Prior to that, she was chair of the Department of Art and Design at Marshall University in Huntington, W.Va.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in fine arts-painting at St. Cloud University in Minnesota. After graduating with a master of fine arts degree in painting from California College of the Arts, she began her career as a professor of studio art at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, where she headed the painting programs for 10 years.

UMSL Provost Glen Cope said Miller will be a great asset to the university.

“She’s an excellent academic and administrator,” Cope said. “I am pleased that she will join us to build on the fine work of John Hylton and James Richards in moving our College of Fine Arts and Communication forward.”

Richards, professor of music at UMSL, has served as interim dean of the college since August 2010, when Hylton stepped down after serving as dean for eight years and returned to his position as a professor of music.

The College of Fine Arts and Communication was established in 2001. It comprises four departments: art and art history; communication; music; and theatre, dance and media studies. Hylton was named dean of the college in 2002 after serving as interim dean from the college’s inception.

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