Joseph H. Seipel

Joseph Seipel began his career in higher education with a one-year contract at Virginia Commonwealth University in 1974. Since that time, his experience has run the gamut of academic roles from instructor to full professor at VCUarts, including 17 years as chair of the Department of Sculpture, 8 ½ years as a senior associate dean and director of graduate studies, (A two year hiatus as vice president at SCAD) and as of spring 2011 a return to VCUarts as dean of the School of the Arts.

At VCUarts, on both the Richmond and the Qatar campuses, he has been honored by working with some of the most amazing, committed, and enthusiastic faculty in art's higher education. Their commitment to teaching, creative research and scholarship has given VCUarts recognition as an important and forward thinking institution.

Professor Seipel received his Bachelor of Science degree in Art from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1970, and his Master of Fine Arts degree from the Maryland Institute's Rinehart School of Sculpture in 1973. He is a long-term member the Mid-America College Art Association board, served three terms on the board of the National Council of Arts Administrators and two terms as president of the organization. He served as the Virginia representative to the Board of Directors for the Southeastern College Art Association and has been active in the cultural affairs of the City of Richmond and the State of Virginia having been appointed to boards and committees by three of Virginia's governors. In 1999 he was the recipient of both the School of the Arts and The Virginia Commonwealth University Award for Distinguished Service. In 2001 he was the recipient of the International Sculpture Center's prestigious Sculpture Educators Award for his lifetime achievements in sculpture education. In May 2007, Mr. Seipel was honored with an Outstanding Alumni Award at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where he now serves on the University of Wisconsin's Art Board of Visitors.

Since 2011 he has played a pivotal role in a development campaign for a new $35,000,000 Institute for Contemporary Art designed by Steven Holl for the VCU campus. The campaign has reached $33+ million and broke ground this year.

His own studio production is monumental in scale and ranges from conceptually based objects to multimedia pieces and robotics. His numerous national and international exhibition venues include among others, exhibitions in New York City, Peru, Milan, Baltimore, and Richmond. Sculpture Magazine highlighted his career in a feature story, entitled, "Material Consequences" in the publication's October, 2001 edition.