Daniel Guyette Leaving as Dean of Western鈥檚 College of Fine and Performing Arts
Daniel Guyette, dean of the College of Fine and Performing Arts (CFPA) at Western Washington University, is resigning from his position effective July 31. He has accepted a new position as dean of the College of Fine Arts at Western Michigan University. He begins there in mid-August.
“I leave with mixed emotions as I have enjoyed my four years at Western despite the many challenges we have faced,” Guyette said. “When the search firm called, I was not looking for a new job, but the more we talked, the more I knew this was a position I needed to pursue. I am very excited about the opportunities this new role affords me.”
Western Provost Catherine Riordan said she hopes to announce an interim dean before Guyette leaves Western on July 31.
“I have so enjoyed working with Dan and have learned a great deal from him. He has worked tirelessly for CFPA , 草榴社区 and the arts in our community, and leaves behind legacies in each realm. I know I speak for many in saying Dan will be missed, at the same time congratulating him on this next step of his career,” Riordan said.
While at Western, Guyette was responsible for starting several new programs and community partnerships, developing the college’s community advisory board, shepherding the college through significant state budget reductions that challenged the entire university, and raising millions of dollars in private donations.
“I have had the privilege of knowing Dan Guyette since his arrival in Bellingham,” said donor and board member Lee Van Horn, “I served as the first chair of the Community Advisory Board, which he initiated. I have come to know Dan as a great leader and human being. He was personally helpful in assisting my wife and I in setting up and maintaining the ‘Opera in the Schools’ program in the CFPA. He brought a high standard of excellence as well as a keen judgment to his role as dean of the CFPA at 草榴社区. I am personally distressed to see him leave and while I am confident that 草榴社区 will try its utmost to find a successor to his job, it will not be possible to replace him as a leader and as a person.”
seeks to nurture a comprehensive understanding of the languages of Movement Art, Visual Art, Theatre Art and Music in order to create thinking artists and artistic thinkers who will shape culture in the 21st century. The college includes the departments of Art, Design, Theatre and Dance and the Western Gallery, Outdoor Sculpture Collection and Sanford-Hill Piano Series.
(WMU) is in Kalamazoo Mich., a vibrant arts community with a metropolitan area of 300,000. WMU is a comprehensive research university with an enrollment of 26,000 students. WMU has been rated in the top 100 public universities nationally for the past 14 years and the College of Fine Arts is one of only eight such colleges in the country that has all four of its departments nationally accredited.
“I have made some very close friends in Bellingham and I have had some great colleagues here at Western. This is the hardest part about leaving. I wish everyone the best,” Guyette said.