Karen Bell (Professor Emerita) was chair of the Department of Dance for 5 years before becoming Dean of the College of the Arts. In 2008, she was named the university's first Associate Vice President for Arts Outreach. While chair, Karen spearheaded the successful proposal for the University's Departmental Teaching Excellence Award, which acknowledged the outstanding work of the department's faculty. She was instrumental in securing funding for the implementation of technology and the integration of African and African based dance forms throughout the curriculum. She served on the American College Dance Festival Association board for 12 years and was the Northeast Regional Representative for 5. During 1991-92 she was a Committee on Institutional Cooperation Academic Leadership Fellow. She is a past evaluator for the National Association of Schools of Dance (NASD) and a frequent presenter at NASDannual meetings. In 2005 she co-authored Women Leading the Way: Reflections on Life and Leadership. Her list of choreographic works are many, and she continues to choreograph and perform concentrating most recently on duet and solo movementtheatre pieces. She has performed as a free-lance dancer in New York City and was a member of the Ithaca Dancemakers. Since coming to Ohio in 1980, she has been awarded an Ohio Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship, College of the Arts Faculty Research Grants, and a University Small Grant. Bell received her BA in Sociology from SUNY Potsdam and her MFA in Dance from Sarah Lawrence College, where she was the recipient of the Bessie Schönberg Dance Scholarship. She has taught on the faculties of Cornell University and Wells College.