The 2015-16 academic year introduces new faculty members to several A&AA departments and programs. The professors new to the school bring a wide spectrum of expertise and creativity in architecture, the history of art and architecture, arts and administration, and product design. They come to UO from schools including Istanbul Technical University, University of California at Berkeley, University of Denver, Stanford University, and the University of Minnesota.

Architecture

Kevin Van Den Wymelenberg joins A&AA as an associate professor and director of the Energy Studies in Buildings Laboratory in Eugene and Portland. He will teach classes in daylighting, integrated design principles, energy performance in buildings, and design. Van Den Wymelenberg served as assistant and associate professor in the College of Art and Architecture in Boise. He was founding director of the Integrated Design Lab in Boise and served there as professor, completing more than $7 million in funded research and outreach in daylighting and energy efficiency for the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance, United States Environment Protection Agency, Idaho Power Company, the New Buildings Institute, and others. Van Den Wymelenberg also chairs the IENSA’s Daylight Metrics Committee. He has a PhD in the built environment from the University of Washington.

Arts and Administration Program

Christina Kreps joins the Arts and Administration Program as an associate professor.  Prior to coming to UO, Kreps taught at the University of Denver as an associate professor of anthropology where she also served as director of Museum and Heritage Studies, and director at the university’s Museum of Anthropology. She is co-editor of the Routledge Series, Museum Meanings, with Richard Sandell, who is on the faculty of Museum Studies at Leicester University. Kreps has a PhD in anthropology and a master’s degree in international studies, both from UO, and a bachelor of arts in anthropology from Colorado College, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Her research areas include museum anthropology, art and anthropology, material culture studies, and international cultural policy development.

Betsy Tannenbaum joins the Arts and Administration Program as a non-tenure track faculty member after serving as a UO adjunct instructor. She has worked as director of New Visions Gallery in Marshfield, Wisconsin, and as public art manager for the Clackamas County Arts Alliance in Oregon City, Oregon. She has a master’s degree in arts administration from UO and a bachelor of arts from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay in musical theater and arts management. She has worked in public art, arts in healthcare, arts advocacy, gallery and collection management, and community arts.

Art

Ron Jude joins the Department of Art as an associate professor, teaching most recently at Ithaca College. He has also taught at the University of Hartford/Hartford Art School, the University of Georgia, The Atlanta College of Art, Georgia State University, and Louisiana State University. His teaching has focused on photography, including advanced studio, and he has exhibited widely throughout the United States, in Europe, and in Asia. He is widely published both in artist books, monographs, and periodicals and journals. Jude has a MFA from Louisiana State University and a BFA from Boise State University.

History of Art and Architecture

Kristen Seaman joins the Department of the History of Art and Architecture as an assistant professor. She studied at Yale and the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University before earning master of art and PhD degrees from University of California at Berkeley. She taught art history and classical studies in the College of the Arts at Kennesaw State University in Georgia prior to coming to UO. Seaman has participated in several archeological excavations, has extensive museum experience, has built a significant research profile, and will increase UO’s offerings in ancient art.

Product Design Program

Beth Esponnette joins the Product Design Program as an assistant professor. Through her startup, unspun, she develops new additive manufacturing techniques in textiles and apparel. She also researches optimized human-exoskeleton interfaces and generative parametric design in soft goods. Esponnette brings industry experience from Mountain Hardwear, Ekso Bionics, Pearl Izumi, TechShop, and the Exploratorium. She earned a bachelor of science degree in fiber science and apparel design from Cornell University and an MFA in design from Stanford University.

Erdem Selek joins the Product Design Program from Iowa State University as an assistant professor.  He began his career as a product designer working on projects ranging from domestic appliances to naval architecture in Germany and Turkey. He taught industrial design for five years at Massey University in Auckland, New Zealand, before moving to the United States. Selek studied at Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey, participated in an exchange program at Ecole Supérieure d'Art et de Design de Reims in France, and earned a master's degree in industrial product design at Istanbul Technical University in Turkey.

Hale Selek joins the Product Design Program from Iowa State University as an assistant professor. She has also taught at Massey University in New Zealand and in the School of Art and Design at Auckland University of Technology. Prior to that she was an industrial designer with Delta Marine Engineering in Istanbul and a product designer with MG Design GMBH in Stuttgart, Germany. She earned a bachelor of industrial design from Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey. Selek studied at the Ecole Supérieure d'Art et de Design de Reims and earned a master of science in industrial product design from Istanbul Technical University.

Susan Sokolowski joins the Product Design Program as an associate professor. She has more than twenty-five years of performance sporting goods experience, working cross-functionally among footwear, apparel, and equipment in creative and strategic roles. Her work considers the athlete’s form, psychology, sport, materials, and design to develop innovative solutions. Sokolowski has been recognized internationally for her achievements in design and innovation, with more than twenty utility and design patents, awards from the United States Olympic Committee and Volvo, and featured product designs at the Design Museum London. She earned a PhD from the University of Minnesota, a master of arts from Cornell University, and a BFA from the Fashion Institute of Technology.