Elizabeth Delacruz_BiographyElizabeth Delacruz is Professor of Art Education, Editor of Visual Arts Research journal, Research Fellow at the UI Center on Democracy in a Multiracial Society, Education Associate at the Krannert Art Museum, and former Chair of Art Education at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Elizabeth is recent recipient of two national awards for her leadership and contributions to the profession of art education: The 2009 National Art Education Asssociation Women's Caucus June King McFee Award and The 2009 National Higher Education Art Educator of the Year Award; and she received the UIUC College of Fine and Applied Arts 2009 Teaching Excellence Award.

Elizabeth received her B.F.A. and M.A. in Art Education from the UIUC, an Ed. S. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Florida, and a Ph. D. in Art Education from Florida State University. Her research focuses on the interface of visual arts education with contemporary art practices, social theory, multicultural education and community, and new media/technology. Her 1997 book, Instructional Theory, Research, and Design in Art Education: Design for Inquiry, remains a well-respected work serving the field of art education. Her paper "Racism American style and resistance to change: Art education's role in the Indian mascot issue" was nominated in 2004 for the National Art Education Manual Barkan award for scholarship. Elizabeth presents her research before scholarly audiences locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally. She is currently working on an anthology, Globalization, Art, and Education, comprised of chapters from scholars from around the world, and in collaboration with co-editors Alice Arnold, Mike Parsons, and Ann Kuo, forthcoming in October 2009.

Elizabeth has been teaching courses addressing art education, culture and community, service learning, curriculum and instruction, technology, and research methods at the University of Illinois since 1988. She also teaches undergraduate art electives to students across the university through School of Art+Design open offerings. Planned in collaboration with Anne Sautman, Director of Education at the Krannert Art Museum, Elizabeth’s most recent new elective, Museums in Action, involves students from across the campus in Krannert Art Museum programming, including the first ever ARTzilla, a special event planned by the students in this class, and designed especially for a young, hip college audience. Elizabeth’s graduate courses have been offered both on and off campus. Graduate courses have addressed curriculum development, contemporary methods of teaching, multicultural education, artistic development, technology, and research methods. Her off campus courses in central and northern Illinois serve Illinois teachers seeking professional development and advanced degrees. Over the years, Elizabeth has been consistently included on the UIUC "Incomplete List of Instructors Rated as Excellent by Their Students".

Prior to coming to the University setting, Elizabeth taught in the public schools from 1981-1988, teaching K-12 Art, self-contained EMH and EH Art classes, English, Graphic Design, and Journalism to widely diverse students populations in rural and urban schools in both Illinois and Florida. While teaching in the public schools she had the opportunity to work with migrant populations in south Florida, rural populations in both central Florida and central Illinois, and in school settings serving primarily affluent students and other schools serving predominantly low income and minority populations in northern Florida.

Elizabeth has served as Chair of the Visual Arts Program at the South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts, a reviewer for the National Endowment for the Humanities, a consultant to the Center for Basic Education in Washington DC, a consultant to the Getty Center on Education in the Arts, a faculty member of the Florida Summer Teachers' Institute for Art Education, Higher Education Division Director for the Illinois Art Education Association, and two terms as Chair of the UIUC Faculty-Student Senate Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure. Elizabeth has given workshops, developed program materials for, and served as consultant to numerous school districts and teacher institutes, and to museums including Krannert Art Museum, Champaign, Illinois, the Lakeview Science and Art Museum in Peoria, Illinois, the Ft. Lauderdale Art Museum, Ft. Lauderdale FL, and the Baltimore Art Museum, Baltimore, MD.

In addition to the awards conferred above, Elizabeth is recipient of numerous awards and grants relating to her research and teaching at the University of Illinois, including the Vice Chancellor's Award for Teaching Excellence, Vice President Sylvia Manning's Grant for Applications for Learning Technologies in Higher Education, a Sloan Center grant for Asynchronous Learning Environments, a PT3 Talent award for utilization of technology in teacher professional development, a Research Fellowship to the UIUC Center on Democracy in a Multiracial Society (CDMS). Her recent research through her CDMS Fellowship have resulted in a National Endowment for the Arts Grant, a Lowes' Charitable Education Foundation Grant; and in Art Speak, a multicultural youth empowerment program developed in collaboration with Anne Sautman, Director of Education at the UIUC Krannert Art Museum.

Elizabeth's current research, teaching, and service are informed by her long standing interest in ways that art education makes a difference in the lives of children and families, and how schools and communities may be enriched, challenged, and improved through educational arts-based initiatives aimed in furtherance of imaginative, creative personal expression, intercultural friendship, social justice, and world peace and prosperity.

source: netfiles