Betsy Towns is an Associate Professor of Art History and Creative Practice and Assistant Dean in the Division of Liberal Arts. She is an artist, designer, art historian and educator. A lifelong interdisciplinary educator, Towns has taught and administered programs for students from early childhood to graduate in a wide variety of traditional and experimental learning settings. As an artist, she creates works for galleries and has designed and built large-scale grant-funded interpretive public art installations in ceramic relief and directed design of immersive education experiences.
I give students space to take risks and puzzle through their own artistic sensibilities by grappling with those of other great artists and thinkers... I help them to think deeply, critically and creatively—expressing themselves in a diverse contemporary range of modes.
Awards, Recognitions and Honors
- Morehead Scholar
- UNCSA Excellence in Teaching Award
- UNC Chapel Hill Undergraduate Teaching Award Recipient
- Honors in Creative Writing
- Luce Fellowship recipient
- Joseph Pogue Fellowship Recipient
Career Highlights
- Principal/Lead Designer for NC Zoological Park Children’s immersive exhibit Master Plan
- Recapturing Childhood, Solo Exhibit RedSky Gallery
- Charlotte Arts Council Permanent public sculpture Irwin Creek Center
Organizations
- Southeastern College Art Association
- National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts
- College Art Association
- Phi Beta Kappa