Watkins Welcomes New Faculty

(August 8, 2011)

Watkins College of Art, Design & Film has made two full-time faculty appointments for the 2011-2012 academic year, it was announced by John M. Sullivan, vice president for academic affairs and dean of the faculty.

Steve Wilkison, an adjunct instructor since 2008, has been named associate professor in the graphic design department, where he will continue to be responsible for developing Watkins’ website design curriculum and teaching its web development classes. Highly regarded as both a designer and a coder, Wilkison is also a contributing author at the popular Community MX website, which features thousands of tutorials and articles related to the Adobe suite of Web tools.

Since 2002, Wilkison has owned Digital Vision Media, an award-winning custom website, interactive and multimedia design and development company.   A veteran of the music industry, Wilkison has been involved with more than 40 album releases as art director and/or graphic designer, including packages for such artists as Emmylou Harris, Lucinda Williams and Kate Campbell, and has helmed online projects for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Dualtone Music Group, Sugar Hill Records, Keith Urban, Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson and Robert Earl Keen, among many others.

“Steve’s reputation as a provider of quality web design services to the Nashville music industry is impeccable,” said Dean Sullivan. “We are confident that his students will quickly assimilate his respect for this unique branch of graphic design, and we look forward to the time when they will become skilled creators of web-based content in their own right.”

Wilkison’s previous positions include president of Eminent Records in Nashville, vice president/general manager of Koch Records in New York, and president of Dejadisc in Austin.   He is a founding member of the Americana Music Association.

Tom Williams has joined Watkins as assistant professor of art history. In his position as a member of the general education faculty, he will teach the two-part art history survey as well as upper division courses in art history. He will also advise students both in the department of fine art and in the Bachelor of Arts degree program.

Williams earned a Ph.D. and an M.A. in art history and criticism from Stony Brook University (Stony Brook, NY), and was a critical studies fellow at the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program. He holds a B.A. from the University of West Florida (Pensacola).

“We are very fortunate to be able to attract a scholar of Tom’s caliber to Watkins,” said Dean Sullivan. “He will be a welcome addition to our faculty and a wonderful resource for students in all disciplines.”

Previously, Williams taught at the School of Visual Arts (New York City), New York University, Dowling College (Oakdale, NY), Binghamton University (Binghamton, NY) and the Museum of Modern Art. He has also contributed to several leading publications, including Art in America magazine, the Grove Encyclopedia of American Art, and the cross-disciplinary academic journal Grey Room. 

Classes begin on Thursday, August 18.