What
is the Center for Innovation in Arts Education?
The Center for Innovation in Arts Education provides a permanent institutional
base for the continuation and expansion of innovation in arts education
and overall educational reform in cooperation with educators across
the University system, throughout the state, and nationwide. The Center,
based in the Department of Art and Art History at the University of
Nebraska at Omaha organizes, facilitates, and collaborates on arts
education projects with K-16 educators, arts institutions and organizations.
The Center strives to fulfill its mission of innovation and effective
leadership in arts education through its areas of focus in pre-service
education, the theory and practice of comprehensive arts education,
and applied research in art education.
History of the Center
After the 1998 approval of the UNO Center by the Nebraska Board of
Regents, it was established with funding from the Getty Education
Institute for the Arts and UNO. A three-year grant from the Institute
for Educational Inquiry for the Arts in Teaching and Teacher Education
initiative provided for collaboration with the College of Education
at UNO. This initiative resulted in a model pre-service program and
the establishment of the CADRE II: The Arts, a graduate induction
program in comprehensive arts education for first-year teachers.
Recognition of the Center
In 2008 the Center for Innovation in Arts Education received the Chancellor’s
Strategic Planning Award for Community Engagement at the University
of Nebraska at Omaha.
From left to right: Chancellor John Christensen; Dr.
Robert Carlson, Chair of the Department of Art and Art History; Dr.
Frances Thurber, Professor Emeritus of Art Education; Shari Hofschire,
Director of the Center for Innovation in Arts Education; Dr. Joanne
Sowell, Professor of Art History; Dr. Gail Baker, Dean of the College
of Communication, Fine Arts and Media; Dr. Terry Hynes, Senior Vice
Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs.
