Department Chairs Funds

This fall, we highlight the role of our dedicated department chairs and directors

These accomplished leaders take on additional responsibility, managing personnel and fiscal duties while representing the varied interests of the department. Throughout the year, chairs will use funds to send students to conferences, hire additional faculty, sponsor events, create new curriculum, or work with individual students to ensure graduation.

By supporting these chairs, you empower our leadership to foster the extraordinary departments we enjoy. For questions about making a bigger commitment or supporting a specific program within UNM Fine Arts, please contact Shelly Smith at shelly.smith@unmfund.org or Kristine Purrington at kristine.purrington@unmfund.org.

Meet the CFA Leadership Team

Harris Smith

Dean, UNM College of Fine Arts

Harris D. Smith is a product of the nationally ranked MFA Acting program at the University of Washington. He was the Chair for the Department of Theatre at the University of Utah. He also served as Director for the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film at the University of Nebraska. He is a Certified Teacher of stage combat through the Society of American Fight Directors and a former member of Actors Equity and SAG (Screen Actors Guild). He received the Meritorious Achievement Award from the Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival for Fight Choreography and has several film and television credits including the Oscar-nominated Runaway Train. Read More

Scott Anderson

Interim Chair, UNM Department of Art

Scott Anderson received a BFA from Kansas State University, a MFA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and attended the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture. Anderson has exhibited nationally and internationally at numerous institutions and galleries, including, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Cranbrook Museum of Art, Neuberger Museum of Art, Parrish Museum of Art, Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Kavi Gupta Gallery, Chicago, Galerie Richard, Paris, Beers Gallery, London, Mark Moore Gallery, Los Angeles, and Stux Gallery, New York. He has received multiple awards and fellowships including a Pollock-Krasner award, and the William and Dorothy Yeck Award. Read More

STEWART COPELAND

Director of ARTSLab

Stewart Copeland is a transdisciplinary artist with a passion for emergent media, new narrative genres, and artistic research. He was an award-winning documentary filmmaker and professional musician in Tennessee before moving to Providence where he received his MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. He has lectured on New Media at the University of Illinois, taught in the Landscape Architecture department at RISD. He is a co-creator of VIS-A-THON, a collaborative art-based visualization program funded by the National Science Foundation. He is now a professor in Experimental Art & Technology and the Director of ARTSLab.

As the Director of ARTSLab, Stewart is dedicated to advancing innovative research projects that foster cross-disciplinary collaboration. He plays a crucial role in securing grants and funding to support these initiatives, helping to build partnerships between CFA and other units across UNM’s campus, such as the School of Engineering, School of Architecture & Planning, The Museum of Southwestern Biology, and the Institute of Meteoritics. ARTSLab provides a unique environment for experiential learning and mentorship—completely different from typical classroom instruction—but fundamental to a well-rounded student experience. Under Stewart’s leadership, ARTSLab has launched programs like the Dance Hackathon, the Lunar Arts Award, and the Community Immersive Media Hub, which drive creative exploration at the intersection of art and technology. Your support helps ARTSLab continue its quest to become an internationally recognized center for new media art and scholarship.

KATIE DUKES WALKER

DIRECTOR OF ARTS LEADERSHIP & BUSINESS MINOR PROGRAM

Recently appointed the Director of the Arts Leadership and Business Program and the Interdisciplinary Arts Program at UNM, Dukes Walker also teaches courses in the Arts Leadership and Business Program including Business Planning for the Arts, Financial Management for Artists, ALBS Internship, and Nonprofit Arts Administration. She serves on six UNM committees including the Dean’s Leadership Grande Committee, the College of Fine Arts Curriculum Committee, the Assessment Committee, the College of Fine Arts McRae Senior Prize Committee, the UNM Community Engagement Committee, and serves as chair of the Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Arts Committee. Since 2019, as a part of Amity Trio, Dukes Walker has been co-awarded an artistic and production grant totaling over $100,000; having a savvy entrepreneurial spirit to procure artistic support and funding is essential to sustainable interdisciplinary art, and it is part of her mission to share this knowledge and experience with her students. In addition to her ten years in arts administration and executive leadership in the for-profit and nonprofit sectors with Amity Trio, Studio Forza, and Chamber Music Campania, Dukes Walker has performed throughout the United States and internationally in Italy, Austria, and Belgium.

Your support of the ALBS Director’s Fund can directly impact ALBS & BAIA Student Scholarships and Graduate Assistantships, support for the bi-annual Arts Career Fair, and provide support for ALBS and BAIA guest lectures.

Diana Gaston

Director, Tamarind Institute

Diana Gaston joined the staff as Tamarind’s fourth director in January 2016. Previously, she was the lead curator for the Fidelity Investments Corporate Art Collection, based in Boston. Diana has a comprehensive knowledge of Tamarind’s vast archives housed at the University of New Mexico Art Museum, where she was curator of prints & photographs from 1989-1993. Subsequently, she held positions as curator at the Museum of Photographic Arts in San Diego, and associate director of San Francisco Camerawork. She received both her B.A. (1985) and M.A. (1988) in Art History from the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas, where she focused on postwar American photography and contemporary works on paper. Read More

Michael Hix

Chair, UNM Department of Music

Michael Hix is a sought-after performer of concert/orchestral works with over 80 oratorio/cantata/concert roles in his repertoire. Hix holds a Bachelor of Music degree in music theory from Furman University, dual masters degrees in both Voice Performance and Historical Musicology from Florida State University and Doctorate of Music in Voice Performance from Florida State University. He has performed across the globe. Read More

Arif Kahn

Director, UNM Art Museum

Arif Khan is currently the director of the, a position he has held since 2016. Prior to working at the UNM Art Museum Arif served as Curator of Art at the Clay Center for the Arts & Sciences in Charleston, WV; Gallery Director at Tamarind Institute; Curator of the Governor’s Gallery, New Mexico Museum of Art; and Artist Coordinator for the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts. He holds a BA in History from Lawrence University, Appleton, Wisconsin; MA in American Studies from UNM; and an MA in Art Business from the Sotheby’s Institute, London, UK. Read More

BILL LIOTTA

Interim Chair, UNM Department of Theatre & Dance

James Stone

Chair, UNM Department of Film & Digital Arts

Dr. James Stone is chair of Film and Digital Arts. He has spearheaded the transformation of the department’s curriculum to adapt to film, animation, and gaming industry opportunities. Stone’s primary academic interests are in British cinema, American popular culture, horror film, and gender studies. His book America Through a British Lens: Cinematic Portrayals, 1930-2010, is published by McFarland. Read More