West Valley College Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Stacy Gleixner has announced that Shannon Price has been named Dean of the Bill and Leila Cilker School of Art and Design. Price is an art, design, and fashion curator, historian and educator with extensive leadership experience at New York City cultural and academic institutions, including Parsons School of Design, Pratt Institute, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Price is passionate about ensuring that art and design education is welcoming and accessible to everyone. “This opportunity aligns with my goals of diversifying the art and design industries at all levels by starting with low-cost, high-quality education. I aim to partner with the vibrant community of art, design, and performing arts innovators and organizations both locally and globally for maximum impact to create a world-class art and design program,” said Price.
Recently accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design, the Cilker School of Art and Design offers architecture and design, visual arts, and performing arts education in the heart of Silicon Valley.
“National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD) accreditation means that we can elevate transfer opportunities for our art and design students by creating more robust articulation agreements with additional high-level art and design schools,” said Price. “This will be very valuable for our art and design students. I want to make those paths clear for them.”
Price’s appointment serves the college goal of providing students the tools they need to make a difference in society and supports our vision that art and design have a role to play in cultural transformation and social justice.
“An art and design education should not be as expensive as it is. Fashion, for example, is 2 percent of the global GDP and the third most polluting industry. Being able to offer a quality, accredited degree program can have a huge impact on sustainability and diversity,” said Price.
To see the variety of programs and classes the Cilker School of Art and Design offers, please visit westvalley.edu/schools/art-design/.