Sandra Reed, a professor of art and former director of the school of art and design at Marshall University, has been named the 26th Distinguished John Deaver Drinko Academy Fellow.
The announcement of her appointment was made by executive director Montserrat Miller, Ph.D., during a virtual event at the Joan C. Edwards Performing Arts Center Friday, April 23.
“Professor Reed was described by her nominators as an artist, a scholar and a teacher who continually looks for opportunities to learn and perfect her art,” Miller said. “Her education credentials are impeccable, and Marshall is a better institution because of her commitment to our students and the university community at large. We are looking forward to great things during her term.”
Reed joined the Marshall faculty in 2014. Her tenure has included four years as the director of the school of art and design; coordination of the juried poster competition that is sponsored by The Dr. Carter G. Woodson Lyceum and is a central feature of the university’s annual Black History Month Celebration; and teaching seminars for honors students, among other highlights. She has worked with students to provide experiential learning opportunities including guiding a group of eleven independent study students in a ten-month project that provided extensive professional practice experiences in the form of a self-published zine; a show in Atlanta, Georgia; and Maximum Capacity at Marshall’s Carroll Gallery (2020). She also teaches foundations drawing and design and capstone courses.
Reed says she is honored to have been selected as a fellow.
“This appointment is a precious opportunity to highlight the integral role of higher education to culture, civilization and to our humanity,” Reed said.
A native of Iowa, Reed graduated from Drake University as a National Alumni Scholar and then studied at the George Washington University as the first Morris Louis Fellow in Painting, where she investigated the academic traditions of figure painting. Reed taught at numerous institutions throughout the Washington, D.C., area prior to moving to Savannah, Georgia, to teach at the Savannah College of Art and Design.
Reed’s paintings are held in private and public collections including at LaGrange Museum of Art, LaGrange, Georgia; Telfair Academy of the Arts, Savannah, Georgia; and the United States Navy Memorial, Washington, D.C. She is active in the Huntington community, where she serves on the Huntington Area Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Mayor’s Arts Council. She is on the executive committee of SECAC, formerly the Southeastern College Art Conference, a national organization that supports higher education in the visual arts and art history.
Reed was also recently honored as a recipient of an Individual Arts Professional Development Grant from the West Virginia Commission on the Arts.
Distinguished Drinko Fellows receive a stipend, re-assigned time from teaching, and other financial and clerical support for two academic years to undertake research, special projects or other scholarly pursuits.
A complete list of Drinko Fellows is available here.