2025 NCAA Board of Directors Nominees



Brooke White is a Professor and the Director of the School of Art & Design at the University of Illinois in Champaign, Illinois. In this role, she oversees 12-degree programs at both the undergraduate and graduate levels within the College of Fine and Applied Arts. Before joining the University of Illinois, she was Area Head of Photography and Professor of Art. She also served in various leadership roles, including Associate Chair and Department of Art & Art History Chair.

During her time at the University of Mississippi, White established the first BFA program in Photography. She was also an affiliate faculty member in Southern Studies and Women’s and Gender Studies and served as the Sarah Isom Fellow. At the college and university levels, she chaired the non-tenure track promotion committee. Furthermore, she recently drafted the strategic plan for the Department of Art & Art History and supervised all accreditation efforts across multiple studio disciplines and art history. White's leadership expertise includes accreditation, undergraduate and graduate student affairs, and faculty and student mentorship.

White's artistic practice is characterized by a cross-disciplinary approach to image-making, incorporating both analog and digital photographic techniques, experimental processes, digital video, and bookmaking. For over two decades, her work has explored themes such as the landscape, nature, and human connection to place. Her latest projects delve into the impact of climate-related weather events on rising water levels in regions such as the Gulf South, the Caribbean, and the Maritimes. Additionally, she examines the significance of photography and travel as acts of resistance for women, drawing from multi-generational archives.

Statement of Intent
I am deeply interested in serving on the board of the NCAA to contribute to a community of leaders in the field of art and design. My inspiration comes from my time as an NCAA Fellow at my first conference, where I was impressed by the strong sense of community and support, and this continues today. Each conference strengthens connections and builds new relationships that I rely on as a director. Building on these experiences, my goal in joining the board is to serve as an advocate and mentor to contribute to this supportive community and to continue learning.

With over twenty years of experience in higher education, I have dedicated my leadership efforts to establishing strong mentorship programs for students and faculty, creating undergraduate and graduate assessments, serving as a national accreditation reviewer, and spearheading innovative curricular opportunities. I am eager to bring this expertise to the board position and assist in any way I can.

 

 

Christopher Kaczmarek is a New York based artist, educator and citizen whose work spans both experimental and traditional practices, including sculpture, site specific installations, performance, video, built circuits and solar-powered objects. His work is often interactive and designed to guide the viewer towards a deeper contemplation about the active and passive roles they play in their inhabited environment.  Recent interests have been concerned with the act of walking as a praxis for artistic production, and the shapes in which collective and collaborative settings can be formed to become spaces where imagination and creativity are used in the service of hopeful outcomes.

He has had the opportunity to present work at national and international galleries and festivals such as Art Souterrain in Montreal, Canada; the Trinity College Science Gallery, Dublin Ireland; the Byzantine Museum of Agios Germanos, Prespes Greece; the New York Hall of Science, Queens NY; Real Art Ways, Hartford CT; the Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus OH; Art Museum of the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Chongqing, China; Art Walk Projects, Edinburgh, Scotland; Walking Art and Relational Geographies International Encounters Girona-Olot-Vic, Catalonia Spain; and the Czong Institute for Contemporary Art, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea. 

Christopher Kaczmarek received an MFA in Visual Art and an MA in Modern and Contemporary Art History, Theory and Criticism from Purchase College, State University of New York, and is currently an Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Art, and Chair of the Department of Art and Design at Montclair State University, New Jersey USA. 

Statement of Intent
As a member of the NCAA board, I would be committed to furthering the organization's mission to create a vibrant and dynamic arts community where creativity thrives, education is paramount, and arts administration is empowered through collaboration, advocacy, and innovative solutions. Our mission to nurture and advance the arts by encouraging and supporting artistic practices across diverse communities, promoting excellence in arts teaching and education, and facilitating the exchange of knowledge and best practices among arts administrators deeply resonates with my personal values. Through my role on the board and as a member of this community, I will strive to identify and address challenges in the administration of arts programs, advocate for robust support and funding for arts initiatives, and work to represent the perspectives of arts administrators at all levels. By championing these goals together, we can contribute to the enrichment of the cultural fabric of society and ensure that the arts remain a vital and integral part of our communities.

 

Lynn Tomaszewski is the Dean of Academic Affairs at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. She is also on the faculty at the Art Students League of New York where she mentors a teaching fellow and teaches printmaking. Prior to Cranbrook, Lynn was the Chief Academic Officer/Academic Dean at the Moore College of Art & Design in Philadelphia, PA, Director and Professor of Practice at the University of Florida, School of Art + Art History, Gainesville, FL, Associate Dean of Graduate Studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, IL and a professor and chair of foundations at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, Milwaukee, WI, where she was also on the faculty for 16 years. She is an interdisciplinary artist whose conceptually driven practice includes paintings, drawings, coding, and video work. She has participated in residencies at the Roger Brown House, New London, MI, the Vermont Studio Center and been an affiliate artist at the Headlands Center for the Arts, Marin, CA. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and is in the public collections of the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota and the Center for Contemporary Art in Sacramento, California. Tomaszewski received a BFA in studio art from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an MFA in printmaking from the San Francisco Art Institute.  

Statement of Intent
I am interested in serving on the board of NCAA to give back to an organization that has been an incredible resource for me, and I know, many others. My intent is to bring my leadership experience to the board to raise awareness of the organization, bring more diverse voices into the conversations, and generally expand and grow the platform of NCAA. The contemporary moment calls for all of us to find ways to be more collaborative, more inclusive, more engaged with the places we exist within. As many institutions are facing daunting challenges ahead – around sustainability, relevance, and the future of education, I would bring my experience in both public and private art schools to an organization that can help leaders work more effectively on these challenges. Ultimately, teaching and mentoring are the most generative acts we can make; NCAA has a mission to support both as well as to provide a forum for exchange and problem solving - I am excited about the possibility of contributing to that mission.