Lisa Kay, Associate Professor and Program Head of Art Therapy has been reappointed as Department Chair of Art Education & Community Arts Practices (AECAP) for a second three-year term through the academic year 2022–23. As chair, Kay has helped reshape the MEd program by emphasizing the identities of the artist-, educator- and arts-based researcher; developed the Art Therapy Program—one of the few undergraduate programs in the United States situated in an art and architecture school within an urban public university—and continued to expand Community Arts Practices to offer socially-engaged art that emphasizes both the creative object and its social implications.

Lisa Kay is an artist, educator, board-certified art therapist and researcher whose practice explores the intersections of art education and art therapy, with a focus on art as resilience and healing. Her recent book, Therapeutic Approaches in Art Education, is evidence of this commitment. Her leadership has been especially impactful to the wellbeing and creative mindsets of students, faculty and staff as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.