Pacific Northwest College of Art is pleased to announce Jennifer (Jen) Cole as its next dean.
Cole will be the administrative leader for PNCA and shape strategic initiatives to deepen the connection between art, design and the liberal arts and sciences as she leads the Northwest’s oldest school of art and design in its new chapter as a college of Willamette University. She holds Willamette’s first named deanship, recognizing a generous new gift from Jordan D. Schnitzer.
Currently the executive director of programs and public affairs at the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts at Arizona State University, she will start her new role in March 2022.
In addition to her role at ASU, Cole is the founding director of The National Collaborative for Creative Work, a network of creators, policy thinkers, movement makers and change agents that work together to weave projects, partnerships and policy solutions that enable healthy, equitable creative work in America.
Prior to ASU, she served as the executive director of the Metro Arts: Nashville Office of Arts and Culture, where she spent nearly a decade as the city’s chief cultural officer. She also served as a board member of Americans for the Arts, chaired the U.S. Urban Arts Federation and currently serves in a variety of advisory capacities with national arts and policy groups, including Creative Youth Development Network, ArtPlace America, Creative Capital, Grantmakers in the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.
