Christensen named interim director of Arkansas State University’s Fowler Center

Longtime arts leader Les Christensen was named the interim director of Fowler Center at Arkansas State University. The director of the Bradbury Art Museum takes over management of the entire Fowler facility, which includes BAM, Riceland Hall for performances, the Drama Theatre and the Simpson Theatre, while working in close coordination with departmental leadership in Art + Design, Music and Theatre.

She replaces interim director Michael Bowman, who returned to the classroom full-time.

“Les brings great organizational skills to this role.  The recent successes at the Bradbury Art Museum reflect the strength she brings to the position,” Dr. Carl Cates, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Communication said.  “I also appreciate the work Michael did as interim director last year.”

Christensen joined ASU after completion of her bachelor’s degree of fine arts in sculpture at the University of Iowa and a year of graduate school at the Rijksuniversiteit te Utrecht in the Netherlands. She completed her master of arts in sculpture from ASU in 1993.  he taught various classes in the Department of Art + Design in the 1990s before being named director of the Bradbury Art Museum in 2001.

Cates also announced that associate professor Tim Bohn and assistant professor Marc Williams will share duties as co-chairs of the Department of Theatre. Bohn has been teaching and directing theatre productions at ASU since 2008, and has been serving as chair for the past two years. He completed his master’s of fine arts degree at the University of North Carolina.

Earning his bachelor’s degree in theatre from Mary Washington College and his master’s degree in fine arts in directing from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Williams has a lengthy resume of professional direction as well as certification as an actor combatant with the Society of American Fight Directors.

“I’m looking forward to Tim’s continued direction and Marc’s new leadership with our theatre program, which is one of the cultural jewels of A-State and the Northeast Arkansas region,” Cates said.