Davy to leave UWM for Adelphi

Kate Davy will be leaving her position as dean of the School of the Arts on June 30 for a position as provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Adelphi University, Garden City, Long Island, N.Y.

While she says that it's difficult to leave Milwaukee, Davy looks forward to the "opportunity to learn and be in charge of an entire organization." As the second-ranking officer at Adelphi, Davy will act for the president in his absence.

The move also will put her closer to family members, although Davy has such a deep affection for Milwaukee that she says she plans to retire here if she doesn't return sooner.

Davy came to UWM in 1994 from the University of California at Irvine, where she was associate dean of fine arts. Before that, she was dean of fine arts at Alverno College. "I feel really good about what I've done in the five years I've been at UWM," she says.

Major accomplishments she points to are the school's efforts to secure a concert hall (see story on p. 3); the increased awareness of the School of the Arts in the community; the revamping of the UWM Art Museum into the Institute of Visual Arts (inova); increased collegiality among the school's departments of art, film, theatre and dance, and music; and the increased diversity of the faculty.

Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher says, "Dean Davy has been an important leader on campus and in the community, and her leaving will be a great loss."

Dick Blau, chair of the Film Department, echoes Zimpher's sentiments. "This is a tremendous loss for the School of the Arts and for Milwaukee," he says. "Kate Davy has been a major force and done an amazing amount here in a very short time. It's been a huge kick to work with her."

Blau describes Davy as a "wonderful dean. Brave and bold and immensely competent, I think she's turned this school around. We wish her the very best and thank her from the bottom of our hearts for all that she has accomplished."

An acting dean for the School of the Arts has not yet been appointed.

gwc@csd.uwm.edu