Fairmont State professor named Higher Education Art Educator of the Year

FAIRMONT — Many area residents know Fairmont State art instructor Joel Dugan for his role in creating murals at Palatine Park and Monroe Street.

Now, Dugan has a new accolade. Dugan was recently named Higher Education Art Educator of the Year by the West Virginia Art Educators Association.

“It is an honor to even get nominated and to receive the award,” Department of Architecture Art & Design Chair and Associate Professor of Art Dugan said. “Knowing that it is coming from peers that I have interacted with means a lot and is a huge compliment.”

Dugan received his bachelor of fine art from The College for Creative Studies in Detroit in 2002. In 2011, he completed a master of fine art at The Henry Radford Hope School of Fine Art at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. Dugan is a visual artist and works primarily as a painter.

He has an active national and international exhibition record of over 122 solo and group exhibitions. Dugan has also completed public art commissions and multiple corporate commissions for institutions such as The Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Detroit Athletic Club, Fort Hays State University and the state of Michigan. He also works to cultivate community interest in public art and community projects throughout the regions he has called home.

“The art department has done a lot of outreach to get local students to engage in art and to create a public face within the community,” Dugan said. “We use public art as a method to create partnerships with organizations like Main Street Fairmont and Marion County that allow us to grow beyond Fairmont State’s campus throughout the community.”

Steve Roof, Fairmont State's Dean of the College of Science and Technology said Dugan’s work has made an impact on the surrounding community.

“I think this award recognizes Joel’s outstanding contributions to art education in the state,” Roof said. “His outreach to high school art teachers across the state brings many high school students to campus, many of whom choose to enroll at Fairmont State.

"His work in community art gives college students who work with Joel on these projects valuable experience in big art, and provides improvements in the visual appearance of the community which raises the profile of the college within the community, ultimately leading back to new students considering an art education at Fairmont State.”