Valerie Eickmeier, Dean, Herron School of Art and Design, IUPUI

Valerie Eickmeier is Dean of the Herron School of Art and Design at Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). She earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in Sculpture from Washington University in St. Louis in 1982, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1979. 

She became dean of Herron in 1999, after a series of steady promotions through the academic ranks, including positions as acting dean, associate dean, division coordinator of 3D Fine Arts, and two terms as faculty president. Valerie’s accomplishments as Dean of Herron include overseeing the construction of two new buildings, fundraising over $35 million, the development and launch of  8 new graduate degree programs. She established a professional practice and community collaboration initiative called the Basile Center for Art, Design and Public Life as well as a digital fabrication center called the Think It Make It Lab.

Dean Eickmeier’s career encompasses more than 30 years of visiting artist lectures, private and corporate commissions, and more than 50 gallery and museum exhibitions. She is the recipient of awards including two National Endowment for the Arts Special Project Grants, two Creative Renewal Grants from the Arts Council of Indianapolis, and five research grants Indiana University. In 2005 Dean Eickmeier was identified by Dialogue Magazine as one of the Midwest’s “Top 25 Most Influential People in the Arts”.