The University of Arizona College of Fine Arts Dean Andy Schulz has announced that he is stepping down when his current administrative contract ends on June 30, 2025. Schulz will also step down from his role as the university’s inaugural Vice President for the Arts.
Schulz will take an administrative leave during the 2025-26 academic year, during which he hopes to complete a long-standing research project on the legacy of Islamic art and culture in Spain. He then plans to return to the classroom as a faculty member in art history.
Schulz joined the University of Arizona in July 2018 as Dean of the College. In January 2019 he was appointed the university’s inaugural vice president for the arts. To carry out the university’s strategic plan objective of “making the arts central to the U of A experience,” he oversaw the creation of Arizona Arts, a division that includes the four academic schools within the College of Fine Arts as well as three arts presenting units: Arizona Arts Live, the Center for Creative Photography and the University of Arizona Museum of Art.
“I am incredibly proud to have played a role elevating and integrating the arts on campus and in the community as a means of advancing the U of A’s mission of student success, cutting-edge research, and impactful community engagement,” said Schulz. “So many people have been integral to these successes: faculty and staff across Arizona Arts, the Arizona Arts leadership team, countless partners and leaders across campus, and our many collaborators, supporters, and donors in Southern Arizona and beyond, who believe in the transformative power of the arts. It’s always challenging to determine the ‘right time’ to move on to new adventures, but after 15 years in leadership roles at three flagship public universities, I am keenly eager to return to teaching and research, and to continue to advocate for the critical importance of the arts in higher education and in civic life.”
Dr. Ronald Marx, the Interim Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, offered these remarks.
“Dean Schulz has led Arizona Arts through extraordinary times including the global pandemic, with remarkable vision and resilience. Despite the considerable challenges of the past several years, Andy’s leadership has resulted in significant achievements: innovative curricula that better prepare students for diverse careers, record-breaking enrollments, major facilities improvements, groundbreaking advances in diversity and inclusion, and the successful integration of arts research into the university’s broader mission. His ability to foster collaboration and inspire excellence has laid a strong foundation for the future of the arts at the U of A.
“As we prepare for this transition, we are grateful for Andy’s contributions and confident in the momentum he has created.”
Key Accomplishments
- Curricular innovation, designed to prepare more students more effectively for careers in the Arts and beyond: B.A. Design Arts & Practices (residential and online), B.A. in Music (residential and online), B.A. in Film (online), and B.A. in Live and Screened Performance (residential).
- Strong undergraduate enrollments. The last four fall enrollment cohorts for the arts have been the largest in the past 36 years.
- Significant facilities improvements—the first in 20+ years—funded through private philanthropy seeded by university investment. Renovations and upgrades to the Marroney Theatre, the Center for Creative Photography, the School of Art, and the outdoor spaces of the Arts District.
- Groundbreaking work and visibility in advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, culminating with the planning and execution of the divisional DEI Roadmap.
- Integration of arts research into the U of A research mission and enterprise through capacity-building within Arizona Arts and collaborations with RII and partners across campus resulting in faculty receiving Udall Center Fellowships, Office of Research, Innovation & Impact Production Seed Grants, RII Women of Impact honors, HSI Faculty Seed Grants and more.
- The unparalleled assets and programming of Arizona Arts Live, CCP, and UAMA have become critical resources in furthering innovative campus-wide engagement and impactful community partnerships.
Andy Schulz Bio
Trained as an art historian, Schulz is a leading scholar on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Spanish art. His award-winning research has examined various aspects of the art of Francisco Goya, as well as the role of visual culture in the construction of national and imperial identity, specifically in the Age of Enlightenment and the Romantic era. For the past several years he has been exploring the “afterlife” of Islamic culture in Spain.
Prior to his appointment at the University of Arizona, Schulz held administrative and tenured faculty appointments at the Pennsylvania State University, the University of Oregon, and Seattle University. On the national level, Schulz has been a leader in the Alliance for the Arts in Research Universities and the College Art Association.
Schulz has received numerous awards and fellowships, including a 12-month fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities, a Getty Scholar residency at the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles and a five-year Faculty Excellence Award from the University of Oregon in recognition of innovative scholarship.
Schulz holds a Ph.D. in Art History and a M.A. in Art History, both from Columbia University and a B.A. in Art History from Dartmouth College.