Two art education doctoral alumni recognized with NAEA research award

The National Art Education Association (NAEA) has named Lauren Stetz ('22 Ph.D. Art Ed.) as the recipient of the 2023 Elliot Eisner Doctoral Research Award in Art Education, and Luke Meeken ('22 Ph.D. Art Ed.) as runner-up for the award. This prestigious award, determined through a peer review of nominations, recognizes the value of doctoral research to the profession of art education and its related disciplines, advocates on behalf of such research and fosters continued support of doctoral research in art education. The award will be presented during the NAEA 2023 National Convention in San Antonio. NAEA President James Haywood Rolling, Jr. said that the award is being given to recognize excellence in professional accomplishment and service, and that Stetz and Meeken “exemplify the highly qualified art education leaders, teachers, students, scholars and advocates who give their best to their students and the profession." Stetz's dissertation, “Transnational Feminist Data Visualization Mapping of Artists' Responses to Violence Against Women,” queried how 24 global artists and their artworks address violence against women. Through participatory action, arts-based research, Stetz explored localized nuances of violence as revealed by culture, regional histories and politics. The study yielded a visual framework for coalition-building through the collaborative co-construction of a digital map with artist participants, which is publicly accessible, alongside teaching resources and other documentation, at “The Violence Against Women Art Map” website. Illuminating connections between artists transnationally, the map highlights themes such as vulnerability, shame and victim-blaming, and law and government. Stetz's research serves as a pedagogical springboard to address difficult topics, harnessing the potential of artmaking for empowerment, community building and societal transformation. Meeken's dissertation, “Critically Crafting Digital Places: Cultivating Critical Sensitivities to Unsettle Settler Sentiments of Digital Place,” examined the potential that critical perspectives on digital placemaking practices may hold for art teaching with digital materials. His study examined how critical sensitivity to the material qualities of digital places and critical sensitivity to the colonial ideologies that digital places materially enact and habituate may inform the crafting of arts curricula as places, and inform youth artists' crafting of digital places. Meeken examined youth creation of immersive 3D digital places, as well as his own curricular place-craft, in the context of a summer camp program taught across geographic distance in and across several digital learning environments. The teaching resources developed through this research are accessible at https://gildedgreen.com/virtual_worlds/. Founded in 1947, the NAEA is the leading professional membership organization exclusively for visual arts educators. Members include elementary, middle and high school visual arts educators; college and university professors; university students preparing to become art educators; researchers and scholars; teaching artists; administrators and supervisors; and art museum educators—as well as more than 54,000 students who are members of the National Art Honor Society. The members represent all 50 states plus the District of Columbia, U.S. possessions, most Canadian provinces, U.S. military bases around the world and many foreign countries. The mission of the NAEA champions creative growth and innovation by equitably advancing the tools and resources for a high-quality visual arts, design and media arts education throughout diverse populations and communities of practice. For more information about the association and its awards program, visit the NAEA website at www.arteducators.org