SCAD announces new faculty and staff appointments

Published: October 3, 2008

SAVANNAH, Ga. - The Savannah College of Art and Design announces new faculty and staff appointments for the college's 2008-09 academic year. SCAD is uniquely qualified to prepare talented students for successful, professional creative careers. From its inception, SCAD has have been devoted to educating, inspiring and preparing the next generation of art and design leaders.

School of Building Arts

Brian Wishne has accepted the position of dean for the School of Building Arts. He has served as chair of the department of architecture at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and has worked as project designer at a number of design firms including Engberg Anderson Design Partnership and Space Design International Inc. Wishne also has served as a staff designer with Michael Graves and Associates in Princeton, N.J., and as a faculty member for the University of Cincinnati's School of Architecture and Interior Design.

He is the recipient of an Honor Award for Design Excellence from the Architects' Society of Ohio of the American Institute of Architects and an Award for Excellence in Architectural Design from the Cincinnati chapter of the American Institute of Architects. Wishne is a member of the Society of Architectural Historians. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature from Knox College in Galesburg, Ill., and a Master of Architecture degree from Princeton University in Princeton, N.J.

Grant Preisser has been named interior design program coordinator for SCAD-Atlanta. He has served as an interior designer in Atlanta for the past five years, most recently as director of design for Heery Interiors. He earned a Master of Science in interior design from Florida State University.

School of Design

Antonio Larosa has been named furniture design chair. For the past 20 years he has worked independently on a wide range of projects, from architecture and interior design to furniture and product design. He also has designed collections of furniture and accessories for the residential and contract markets that were manufactured in the United States and Europe that currently are marketed and sold worldwide. His designs have been displayed at internationally renowned locations such as the Vitra Design Museum and at furniture shows in Milan and Verona, Italy; Tokyo; Moscow; and New York. Larosa also has served as a faculty instructor of furniture design and interior design at Arizona State University. He earned a Doctor of Architecture degree from Milan Polytechnic University.

George Perez, acting furniture design chair, will serve as associate chair and assist the new chair in becoming acclimated to the department.

School of Liberal Arts

Nancy Emmeluth has been promoted to chair of liberal arts. She has worked as a professor of English at SCAD since 1998. Before joining SCAD, she taught English and other humanities courses at colleges, universities and secondary schools across New York state. Emmeluth earned bachelor's and master's degrees in English from the College of St. Rose in Albany, N.Y., and a Doctor of Arts degree in humanistic studies degree with a concentration in English and Africana studies from the State University of New York, Albany.

Geoffrey Taylor has been named art history chair. After completing the Master of Architecture program at SCAD in 1994, Taylor earned Master of Design Studies and Doctor of Design degrees from Harvard University's Graduate School of Design. Taylor returns to SCAD following service as a research scholar in the Department of Drawings and Prints at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where he previously received the Chester Dale fellowship. A Samuel H. Kress curatorial fellow and a visiting fellow at Harvard University's Houghton Library, Taylor specializes in Italian Renaissance drawings and prints. SCAD honored him as 2005 Outstanding Alumnus.

School of Performing Arts

Kevin Wallace joins SCAD as music director. As a conductor, musical director and performer, he has worked on productions across the country in summer stock and regional theaters, including the historic Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., as well as in New York and Las Vegas. Productions of note include the 20th anniversary production of "Hair" and the premiere of the new Stephen Schwartz musical "Snapshots." He is a two-time Carbonell award winner for Musical Direction. Wallace also has written two widely performed musical reviews, "Puttin' on the Ritz" and "Silver Screen Serenade." Wallace earned a Bachelor of Music Education degree from the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester.

Academic Services

Elizabeth Anne Gaskin has been named dean of undergraduate studies. Most recently she served as dean of academic affairs at Sullivan University in Lexington, Ky., where she was responsible for leading and directing academic initiatives of all undergraduate and graduate programs at the university. Prior to that role, she worked as the associate dean of students and as an instructor at the university. Gaskin is a member of the American Association of University Administrators and the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (now called the Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education). She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Kentucky in Lexington and a Master of Arts degree in English from Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond. She is currently pursuing a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation from the University of Kentucky.

Jan Dupuy has been appointed as the college's English as a Second Language director. The author of "Effective Sentences: Writing for Success" (University of Michigan Press, 2006), she has taught English as a Second Language at the University of New Orleans, Louisiana State University and other institutions throughout Louisiana. Dupuy also served as a Fulbright lecturer and Teaching English as a Foreign Language teacher trainer for the Italian Ministry of Public Instruction in Rome. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Louisiana State University and a Master of Arts degree in English from The Ohio State University, where she specialized in rhetoric, composition and ESL.

Communications

Leanne Hand has been named executive director of communications. In this role, she will assist the vice president for marketing with overseeing the development and execution of unified marketing communications for the college. Most recently, she served as a marketing consultant to Okabashi Brands. Prior to her role there, she worked in a variety of executive marketing roles for Russell Corporation, Shaw Industries and The Walt Disney Company. Hand earned a Bachelor of Arts in communications from Berry College and a Master of Divinity from Emory University in Atlanta.

SCAD: The University for Creative Careers

With more degree programs and specializations than any other art and design university in the United States, the Savannah College of Art and Design is uniquely qualified to prepare talented students for professional, creative careers. The university offers 42 undergraduate and graduate programs and 52 minors in Savannah and Atlanta, Ga., in Lacoste, France, and online through SCAD-eLearning. SCAD is a private, nonprofit, accredited institution that offers Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Fine Arts, Master of Architecture, Master of Arts, Master of Arts in Teaching, Master of Fine Arts and Master of Urban Design degrees.