Executive Vice President and Provost Pam Benoit named Margaret “Peg” Kennedy-Dygas dean of the College of Fine Arts. Kennedy-Dygas is currently the associate dean of the College of Arts at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. She was selected as the new dean of fine arts during the course of a national search. Her term of appointment will begin on May 20.

“Dr. Kennedy-Dygas demonstrated that she is a passionate advocate for the arts and for the role that creative activity plays in the life of a university,” said Benoit. “She also has a track record as a creative administrator who has formed successful partnerships with faculty on issues that matter when it comes to creating a supportive environment for fine arts and arts education.”

Kennedy-Dygas has a doctorate in voice and music history and literature from the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University and a bachelor’s degree in music from the Cleveland Institute of Music. She has been a faculty member at the University of Kentucky, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Hope College.

Her professional activities have included engagements as a soloist in a variety of national and international concert venues. As an artist and a producer, Kennedy-Dygas has worked on multimedia projects involving voice and computer. She also has published on vocal pedagogy and presented widely on a variety topics ranging from American art songs to the development of collaborative databases.

In reflecting on her appointment, Kennedy-Dygas said she was “thrilled to be joining the team at Ohio University, an institution that is universally admired around the country.” She noted that the reputation of the arts at Ohio University was first rate and that she sees abundant opportunities for College of Fine Arts faculty “to expand the creative culture that they have established so successfully in Athens.”

Kennedy-Dygas recognizes the broad significance of the college and its activities. She indicated that her highest priority as dean will be “nurturing excellence, as well as connecting the creative geniuses in the college with the needs of people in Southeast Ohio and beyond.”

For more information on the College of Fine Arts, visit http://www.ohio.edu/finearts/.