Mr. Wade Thompson has been named head of the Art and Design Department effective July 1, 2009. A longtime professor at Missouri State University, he is currently in his second year as acting head of the Department and was selected after a national search.
“Art and design have a long history of excellence at Missouri State,” said College of Arts and Letters Dean Dr. Carey Adams, “and the department continues to attract increasingly talented students and faculty. With the development of a new downtown home at Brick City, the department is poised to take giant steps forward. Wade already has demonstrated the knowledge and vision to lead art and design into that future.”
Thompson received his B.A. in Art with distinction at Macalester College in Minnesota, his MFA and M.A. at the School of Art at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, and also graduated from the prestigious Pratt Institute School of Art and Design in Brooklyn, New York. He has received several University awards, including the College Award in Service in 2004 and the University Award in Research in 1998. Thompson’s paintings have been exhibited nationwide, including exhibits in Kansas City, Cincinnati, Chicago, and Washington, D.C, and he has also presented worldwide, with presentations in London, Oslo, and Helsinki.