College of Fine Arts and Communication

Jim Richards
Interim Dean
CoFAC

Phone: (314) 516-4570
email: jamesrichards@umsl.edu

James Richards serves as interim Dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communication at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Prior to this appointment, Dr. Richards held the positions of Associate Dean for Academic Affairs of the College and Chair of the Department of Music. He is a member of the 2005 class of the University of Missouri Leadership Development Program of the President's Academic Leadership Institute. Dr. Richards holds a doctorate from the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester and degrees in orchestral conducting and music theory, as well as a Performer's Certificate in Violin, from the University of Texas at Austin. He studied orchestral and opera conducting with Walter Ducloux, Paul Vermel, and Gustav Meier, and participated in the Conductor's Program of the Aspen Music Festival.

In addition to conducting the University Orchestra, Dr. Richards currently serves as conductor and music director of the Saint Louis Chamber Orchestra and the Gateway Festival Orchestra of St. Louis. Prior to these appointments, he served as conductor of the Kirkwood Symphony Orchestra for nineteen seasons and as associate conductor of the Kammergild Chamber Orchestra. He has appeared frequently as a guest conductor and clinician for band and orchestra festivals throughout the United States, including numerous guest appearances with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra Discovery Series. In June, 2009, Dr. Richards conducted the New York premiere of the music theatre work, Booth!, by Harbach, Coker, and Yordy, at NYU's Skirball Center for the Performing Arts.

Dr. Richards has recently completed terms as President of the Missouri Association of Departments and School of Music (MADSM) and the Missouri Chapter of the American String Teachers Association (MoASTA). He has been a reviewer of new string literature for the American String Teacher Journal, served for three years as national chair of the ASTA Merle J. Isaac Composition Competition, and authored chapters on works by William Grant Still, Johann Strauss, Jr., and Elliot Del Borgo in volume III of the Teaching Music through Performance in Orchestra series published by GIA.

As a violinist, Dr. Richards has performed with a variety of professional ensembles including the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, Memphis Symphony Orchestra, Illinois Symphony Orchestra, the Kammergild Chamber Orchestra, the Fox Theatre Orchestra, the Dance St. Louis Orchestra, the St. Louis MUNY Orchestra, and the Landolfi String Quartet. In 1999, Dr. Richards received a University of Missouri Research Board Grant to study Baroque violin performance at the Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute. Dr. Richards has been the recipient of the St. Louis Suburban Music Educator's Association's Merit Award "in recognition of significant contributions for the advancement of music education," the Artist/Teacher of the Year Award from the MoASTA, and the Faculty Excellence Award from the College of Fine Arts and Communication.

Ms. Sharon Clark
Associate Dean for Student Affairs
CoFAC

Phone: (314) 516-5501
email: clarksd@umsl.edu

Phone:(314) 516-4205 (Dean's Office)
(314) 516-5998 (Art History Office)
email: bohan@umsl.edu

Ruth L. Bohan serves as Interim Associate Dean for academic affairs in the College of Fine Arts and Communication. Prior to this Bohan served for eight years as chairperson of the Department of Art and Art History.

Bohan received masters and doctoral degrees in American Studies from the University of Maryland, College Park, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She teaches courses in American art history, including a graduate course in the Museum Studies program, and has twice been selected to teach in the Missouri London Program.

Bohan is the author of two books: Looking into Walt Whitman, American Art 1850-1920 (Penn State Press, 2006) and The Société Anonyme's Brooklyn Exhibition: Katherine Dreier and Modernism in America (UMI Research Press, 1982). She also served as contributing editor for The Société Anonyme Collection and the Dreier Bequest at Yale University: A Catalogue Raisonné, eds. Robert L. Herbert, Eleanor S. Apter, and Elise K. Kenney (Yale University Press, 1984). In addition, she has published essays in The Société Anonyme: Modernism for America (2006), The Cambridge Companion to Walt Whitman (1995) and Walt Whitman and the Visual Arts (1992). Her articles have appeared in such journals as Walt Whitman Quarterly Review, Mickle Street Review, Prospects, and Arts Magazine.

She is the recipient of numerous grants and awards, including a J. Paul Getty Postdoctoral Fellowship in the History of Art and the Humanities, a NEH Summer Seminar for College Teachers and a UM-Research Board Award. In 2009, she received the Faculty Excellence Award from the College of Fine Arts and Communication.

Alberta Breckinridge

Alberta Breckinridge is the Manager of Business/Fiscal Operations Specialist for the College of Fine Arts & Communication. She received her MA in Accounting and Master of Business Administration from Fontbonne University and her Bachelor of Science, Business Administration from Southeast Missouri State University.

Prior to her employment with the University of Missouri-St. Louis, Alberta was employed for 22 years by Washington University as the Accounting Manager,
Operations Manager and Acting Director for the Campus Stores, as well as three
years as the Controller for a telecommunications corporation. She is currently
pursuing certification as a Certified Management Accountant.

Linda began working at the University as a senior academic advisor for the College in May 2006. She spent 6 ½ years as an Academic Counselor at Oklahoma City Community College. While there she also taught Psychology and Medical Terminology as an adjunct instructor. Before completing undergraduate and graduate programs at the Ohio State University, Linda worked as a Registered Nurse for almost two decades.

Linda's academic history includes an Associate of Applied Science Degree in Nursing from Belleville Area College, now Southwestern Illinois College, and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and a Master of Arts in Cognitive Psychology from Ohio State University.

Having been a nontraditional student and an instructor, Linda understands the special needs of adults returning to school and brings a unique viewpoint to the advising setting. She sees advising as a forum for teaching students how to create a plan for completing their degree, while improving academic, decision-making, and time management skills, which will carry over into the workplace.

Estella Davie
Office Support Staff
CoFAC
Phone: 314-516-4507
Email: daviee@umsl.edu