UK fine arts dean leaving for Syracuse University

Michael Tick, who became dean of the University of Kentucky College of Fine Arts in 2010, is leaving that job to become dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Syracuse University.

Tick starts at Syracuse on July 1. In his new job, Tick will lead more than 300 full-time and part-time faculty and nearly 2,500 undergraduate and graduate students.

UK provost Tim Tracy said that during Tick’s tenure, “the college has made significant advancement through new facilities and programs, while maintaining a commitment to the highest standards of artistic expression, which have been recognized literally around the globe.”

During Tick’s tenure, the 94-year-old Reynolds building closed and the UK art department moved to the nearby University Lofts building. Next fall, the college will begin the Creative Arts Living Learning Program in a new 1,100-bed residential hall, with multidisciplinary spaces for visual, performing and literary arts. The initial scope and architectural program are in place for a new School of Music instruction building.

Also during the past six years, the University of Kentucky Art Museum has been added to the College of Fine Arts as an auxiliary unit.

During Tick’s time as dean, the art department has been renamed the School of Arts and Visual Studies and has expanded its offerings with growth in UK core classes, thus reaching thousands of students in other departments. The theater department was renamed the Department of Theater and Dance to reflect the addition of dance faculty and the growing popularity of dance in the department.

Before joining UK, Tick spent 11 years as the chair of the theater department at Louisiana State University and as producing artistic director of Swine Palace, the department’s Equity theater company. Before joining LSU in 1999, Tick was the planning committee that established the Virginia Governor’s School for the Arts in 1985.

He has taught at schools including Old Dominion University, the University of Rhode Island, Northwestern University and Bretton Hall College of the University of Leeds.

This story was originally published May 17, 2016 at 4:31 PM with the headline "UK fine arts dean leaving for Syracuse University."