By: Brie White, Staff Writer
Dr. David Efurd, professor of art history, fine art and art studies, chairs the search for Wofford’s new assistant professor of studio art. In synopsis, Wofford is currently inviting applications for a “full-time, tenure track faculty position at the rank of assistant professor in studio art with specializations in teaching foundations courses, drawing and painting” according to Wofford’s human resources page.
The job opening details can be furthered outlined on Wofford’s human resources website. However, this week Efurd gave the Old Gold and Black an update on the search’s progress.
In late September, the search opened and during a recent CAA annual conference in Washington, D.C., 10 potential candidates were interviewed. Currently, the search is being narrowed down to three candidates who will come for a campus visit this spring as it is hoped that the position will be filled in time for the fall semester.
Efurd described the candidates thus far as “diverse” and with great potential to benefit the college. He emphasized the need for a candidate to be “enthusiastic and committed to liberal arts education,” re-emphasizing that many students who are non-majors engage in and enjoy studio art classes.
As indicated by the human resources page, a candidate will also advise students, serve the college and partake in committee work, development of studio arts curriculum and overseeing students engaged in capstone projects.
Primary goals of this search lie in strengthening Wofford’s studio art minor, and while there are no current plans to extend this degree program to a major program, the future professor will assist Kris Neely, the current primary professor of studio art. This new professor will also work along the many adjunct professors that the studio art program already uses to best “maintain, build and bolster the program.”
The development of this program coincides the new 65,000 square foot Rosalind S. Richardson Center for the Arts, which will house the theatre program, visual arts program and the art history department. The building will also feature new studio art classrooms for 2-D and 3-D media, in which this professor will concentrate. Efurd explains that a new professor would help to utilize new physical resources being made available by this facility.
As this search continues, Efurd’s hopes are to make the foundations of studio art more accessible to all Wofford students, to continue to prioritize the arts alongside the development of the Rosalind S. Richardson Center for the Arts and to fill the position with a “dynamic, active and highly qualified” candidate, suitable to the job at hand.