Allan Richards
Associate ProfessorOffice: 303 Fine Arts Bldg.
Telephone: 859.257.3944
Email: richard@email.uky.edu
Education: Instituto Allende Incorporando a La Universidad de Guanajuato, M.F.A.; Illinois State University, Ph.D.
“A quality education is of vital importance to maintaining the core principles of a democratic society. Civilizations throughout the world and over centuries have demonstrated the values that the arts teach us. Research shows that the arts are also essential to improved quality of education for students. In the early years of public school education in the United States, the arts were at the forefront of education. Today schools and society have lost this focus and questions are being raised about the quality of education our students are receiving in public schools. We need to find a way to refocus schools and the society to embrace the arts and their involvement in the education of students particularly in public schools.”
Teaching both undergraduates (majors and non-majors) and graduates at the University of Kentucky since 1993, Dr. Richards continues to build on his years of experience teaching in schools around the world and at different levels of the education system. His courses include “Art in Secondary Schools,” “Field Experience in Secondary Education,” and “Workshop in Design Education.” He serves currently as Head of the Teacher Education Program in Art Education. In teaching, service, and research, he considers his current work in the arts and education as vital in the efforts to educate students and promote multi-cultural education.
Dr. Richards research focuses on the “dual roles” of the arts in P-12 education. He believes that the arts should be promoted for their values and at the same time, they should be promoted to meet the educational needs of students. While the issue of multi-cultural education has faded somewhat, the world continues to be an increasingly diverse community linked by modern technology. Another focus of Dr. Richards’s research are issues related to multi-cultural education. His work is published in refereed journals and he presents at national and international conferences. Educated in Jamaica, Mexico, and the United States, bi-lingual in English and Spanish, he adds a diverse and multicultural educational background to the faculty.
Dr. Richards serves nationally as the Treasurer and member of the Board for the United States Society for Education through Art and he is a member of the National Art Education Association. He is formerly Associate Dean in The Graduate School at UK and Assistant Dean for the College of Fine Arts at Illinois State University.