CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Kevin Hamilton will become the dean designate of the College of Fine and Applied Arts effective Aug. 17, pending approval of the three-year appointment by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees. Hamilton is a professor of new media in the School of Art and Design and is a senior associate dean for the college. He served as a Provost Fellow during the 2017-18 academic year, working to develop campus programming to facilitate conversation on divisive topics.
Hamilton has been a member of the Illinois faculty since 2002. His work as an artist and scholar has earned support from the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Illinois Arts Council. In addition to his art exhibition and commission career, he has published on the role of photography in nuclear weapons research and on perception of bias in algorithmic systems.
In his service in the dean’s office, Hamilton was instrumental in overhauling the promotion and tenure process and systematizing the college’s human resources practices. He has been an advocate for diversity and inclusion at all levels of the organization. He holds appointments in the Media and Cinema Studies program in the College of Media, and has held campus fellowships at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications and the Center for Advanced Study.
Andreas C. Cangellaris, the Urbana campus’s vice chancellor for academic affairs and provost, recommended the appointment of Hamilton to Chancellor Robert Jones after the conclusion of a national search that ran throughout the last academic year.
“I am confident that Professor Hamilton’s leadership and experience will translate to even better experiences for all FAA students and faculty,” Cangellaris said. “I truly appreciate his willingness to accept this new responsibility to serve the College of Fine and Applied Arts.”
