Karen Hutzel, associate professor and chair of the Department of Arts Administration, Education and Policy, was named interim chair of the Department of Art, effective Sept. 1, 2018, through June 30, 2019.

Hutzel has been at Ohio State since 2005. She earned her MA in art education from the University of Cincinnati in 2002 before attaining her PhD in art education from Florida State University in 2005.

A community-engaged scholar, Hutzel applies principles of participatory action research to her collaborations with community and cultural groups both locally and globally. Her areas of expertise include art education in cities and asset-based community development. Among other things, she was awarded a Fulbright Specialist Award, in which she served the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts in Kingston, Jamaica; is an elected member of the Council for Policy Studies in Art Education; and was recently a board member of the Somali Women and Children’s Alliance.

Huztel co-authored the book, Transforming city schools through art: Approaches to meaningful K-12 learning. Some of her published, peer-reviewed journal articles include “Art in the Market: Action research and participatory art” and “Art education online: Possibilities for multicultural art education through international collaboration.”

“I have long admired the work produced by our university’s incredible Art Department, so to join them by serving as their interim chair is an incredible opportunity for learning,” Hutzel said. “My ultimate hope is to complete several curricular changes in which the faculty have already invested a lot of time and energy and to support the evolution of their operating structure to provide faculty with more time for artmaking and scholarship.”