Colgate professor DeWitt Godfrey elected president of College Art Association board

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Dewitt Godfrey's sculptures at the Faculty art show in Little Hall.

DeWitt Godfrey’s sculptures at the faculty art show in Little Hall. Photo by Andrew Daddio.

DeWitt Godfrey, associate professor  of art and art history at Colgate, was elected president of the College Art Association’s Board of Directors for a two-year term, beginning May 2014. The CAA is a highly regarded organization, and Godfrey’s colleagues stressed its importance.

“The decisions the CAA governance makes have an impact on thousands of people in the field, on the shape and direction of the academic disciplines, and sometimes even on national arts policy,” said Elizabeth Marlowe, assistant professor of art and art history at Colgate.

Marlowe added: “This is a tremendous honor for Colgate, an enormous feather in our cap. It will increase our visibility in the national conversation about the arts and humanities at a critical moment.”

Founded in 1911, the CAA aims to promote the visual arts and their understanding through committed practice and intellectual engagement. More than 12,000 artists, art historians, scholars, curators, critics, collectors, educators, publishers, and other professionals in the visual arts belong as individual members.

Another 2,000 departments of art and art history in colleges and universities, art schools, museums, libraries, and professional and commercial organizations hold institutional memberships.

As board president, Godfrey will oversee the roll-out of the association’s strategic plan.

“The next president must provide continuity and leadership that builds on our already realized strategic plans and advance the remainder of our unfinished, unmet goals,” he said.

Read more about the CAA announcement.