This past January not only marked the start of a new year and decade, but the beginning of a new visioning process for the College as well. Two back-to-back events—an evening panel discussion featuring national thought leaders, and a daylong brainstorming session tackling key issues relating to Art Center’s mission statement—were open to the Art Center community.

On January 13, faculty, staff, students, alumni, trustees and friends packed the Ahmanson Auditorium for the visioning kickoff. The evening session—Twittered and webcast live—featured a distinguished panel of speakers: Andrew Blauvelt, design director and curator at the Walker Art Center; Katherine Hayles, professor and director of graduate studies in literature at Duke University; Steven Oliver, board member of the grant-making organization United States Artists; and David Rice, chairman and founder of The Organization of Black Designers.

Before introducing the panelists, Art Center President Lorne Buchman stressed the imperative of higher education to value driven learning and thinking. “The capacity of our students and graduates to affect change is enormous,” he said. “We need to be educating responsible citizens—the question is how to do that.”

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