Jill Beck was appointed Lawrence University’s 15th president in January
2004 and assumed office on July 1. A native of Worcester, Massachusetts,
she
received her B.A. in philosophy and art history from Clark University, an
M.A. in history and music from McGill University, and the Ph.D. in theatre
history and criticism from the City University of New York.
A nationally recognized authority on arts education, she is both a scholar and a practitioner of dance and choreography and has written extensively in the fields of dance history, theory, repertory, and technique and has directed ballet and modern dance repertory. She has served on the faculties of the City College of the City University of New York, The Juilliard School, Connecticut College, Southern Methodist University, and the University of California, Irvine.
As dean of the School of the Arts at the University of California, Irvine from 1995 to 2003, she was the driving force behind the establishment of two innovative programs for furthering the impact of the arts — the da Vinci Research Center for Learning Through the Arts, an interdisciplinary center for research focused on learning across disciplines, and ArtsBridge America.
ArtsBridge America has been recognized as a national model for the advancement of educational arts partnerships between universities and the K-12 community. The program offers hands-on experiences in the arts to school-age children, placing university students in K-12 classrooms as instructors and mentors. Under Dr. Beck’s direction, ArtsBridge America grew from a limited pilot program in California with seven student scholars in 1996 to a nationwide effort involving 21 campuses in 13 states.
In 2000, she co-chaired an international conference titled "Sciences for the Arts: Building a Coalition for Arts Education" that brought psychological and medical researchers together with artists and art educators, one of several ways in which she has worked to establish linkages between science and engineering and the arts.
A founding member of the Alliance of Dance Notation Educators, she is active in a number of professional organizations and as a participant in scholarly meetings and publications. She is a recipient of the Disney Corporation's Jack Linquist Award for Innovation, given in recognition of ArtsBridge America's creative approach to social problems; the American Red Cross Association's Clara Barton Award for humanitarian service in the arts; and the University of California, Irvine, Medal, the university's highest honor, for "visionary leadership in building community."
President Beck is married to Robert J. Beck, Ph.D., a visiting professor of education at Lawrence University.