Denise A. Baxter, recent Associate Dean within the Toulouse Graduate School at the University of North Texas, begins August 1
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UMass Dartmouth Provost Ramprasad Balasubramanian recently announced that Dr. Denise A. Baxter will become the next Dean of the College of Visual & Performing Arts (CVPA), effective August 1.
Baxter most recently served at the University of North Texas, a nationally ranked R1 public research university that is a Hispanic-serving institution. She has held various administrative roles at the University of North Texas, including Associate Dean of the College of Visual Arts and Design and Associate Dean of the Toulouse Graduate School. Baxter also serves as the President of the College Art Association, demonstrating her commitment to fostering innovation and excellence in the visual and performing arts.
“Dr. Baxter brings a wealth of experience in academic leadership, program development, and student success to UMass Dartmouth. Alongside our CVPA faculty, Dr. Baxter will shape a vision for the college’s future, and I am excited to work alongside her to deepen the impact and influence of the arts on our campus and in the wider SouthCoast community,” said UMass Dartmouth Provost Ramprasad Balasubramanian.
Throughout her career, Baxter has championed inclusive and rigorous public education, strategic academic planning, and faculty development.
I want to be an advocate for the visual and performing arts as a faculty member, researcher, administrator, and member of the UMass Dartmouth community. I look forward to expanding pathways for students and colleagues within CVPA and across the university to realize their own aspirations, visions, and contributions,” said Baxter.
Baxter, an art historian, has been a contributing editor to books on architectural space in eighteenth-century Europe and the cultural history of fashion. Her teaching and research have focused on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century art and material culture, with an emphasis on the relationships between fashion and self-fashioning. She received her PhD and Master’s degrees from the University of California Santa Barbara and her BA from Vassar College.