By Anna Geannopoulos
Who: Joe Seipel, Vice President of Academic Services
“I don’t think it is something people learn in a lot of other occupations—to feel comfortable just jumping into something and not fearing failure. Artists get used to it. We go to critiques all the time. You know what it’s like, so you actually learn by failure.”
Joe Seipel started as a sculptor, but he’s also helped start a successful bank, co-owned a restaurant and for the past 34 years, he worked his way up from professor to director of the fall graduate programs at Virginia Common Wealth University School of the Arts. In 2001, the International Sculpture Center presented Seipel with the 2001 Outstanding Sculpture Educator award.
He is now SCAD’s Vice President of Academics.
“One of the recruiters called about the job and, to be honest, I came down here because SCAD was such a competitor of ours. I wanted to see what was going on,” said Seipel.
He didn’t expect to take the job, but after touring the facilities and meeting the faculty and students he reconsidered.
“I think what probably sealed the deal was walking into the Gulfstream Building. Any artist or any sculptor who would walk into that building and not be just amazed isn’t really a sculptor,” said Seipel.
As SCAD’s Vice President of Academic Services he is focused on the Savannah campus and works with the deans of each school on curriculum, proposals and hiring facility. He also attends national conferences to make sure other institutions know all about SCAD and what it has to offer.
He credits his varied careers and success in seemingly unrelated fields to his arts education. It taught him to solve all kinds of problems, not just how to create art.
“I don’t think it is something people learn in a lot of other occupations–to feel comfortable just jumping into something and not fearing failure. Artists get used to it. We go to critiques all the time. You know what it’s like, so you actually learn by failure.”
Seipel still sculpts, and now that he’s settled into Savannah, he is looking for the perfect studio to complete a piece that is 10 years in the making.
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Who: Steve Larson, Director of Athletics
“I’m not going anywhere. I’m still here. You can still come see me. I’m still the same resource. I still care. That’s why I do this I do this because I want to help students be successful.”
Last year, Steve Larson joined the SCAD community Dean of Students, but he has always loved athletics.
He played baseball in college then coached college baseball pitching for 16 years at Grinnell College, Ursinus College and Philadelphia University before coming to SCAD. His childhood dream job was to be a P.E. teacher, but that dream morphed into two paths—to serve as Dean of Students and Director of Athletics. With one dream achieved and one to go, Larson decided to make the switch.
“I loved being the Dean of Students here, but then this opportunity came to be the director of athletics and I thought, ‘Wow, how cool would that be?’” said Larson.
As Director of Athletics, Larson works to make sure student athletes achieve success academically as well as in their sport. He attends sporting events and enjoys getting to know each student, something he will miss about his previous job. But he wants students to know that he’s always here for them.
“I’m not going anywhere. I’m still here. You can still come see me. I’m still the same resource. I still care. That’s why I do this I do this because I want to help students be successful,” said Larson.
Although the switch is bittersweet for Larson, he feels fortunate to do what he loves at an institution that helps students achieve their own goals.
“I think that’s why a lot of student here go to SCAD, because you get to follow your heart and your dreams ,and this is really what you want.”
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Who: Heriberto J. Brito, Dean of the School of Building Arts
“I want to make my departments the best in the country, if not the world. I want to prepare our students for the multiplicity of tasks that it will take to make them succeed.”
Heriberto Brito was working as the City of Savannah’s first preservation planner when SCAD opened its doors in 1979. That fall, he became the first person to teach Mechanical Drawing and Survey of Western Architecture at SCAD. He taught adjunct for six years, during which time he founded the historic preservation major. After a 25-year hiatus from education, Brito is back as dean of the School of Building Arts.
“I had been working with SCAD over the past five years as a consultant in their accreditation of the interior design and architecture programs. I love coming here and when the offer was made, it’s one of these things that I couldn’t pass up,” said Brito.
The biggest change Brito sees upon his return to SCAD is the city itself. “This is not the sleepy town center that I left 25 years ago. Thanks to SCAD and its student body, we have a downtown that just teams with vitality.”
He is dedicated to the students in the building arts and wants them to know that they have a real advantage.
“SCAD and the City of Savannah have a symbiotic relationship around the largest urban national historic landmark district in the country, so the city is our living laboratory for practicing the building arts.
Brio loves working with students and feels like the classroom keeps him young. He remains involved in classroom work and student groups, such as SCAD’s chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMAs).
“I want to make my departments the best in the country, if not the world,” said Brito. “I want to prepare our students for the multiplicity of tasks that it will take to make them succeed.”
He is proud of SCAD and his students’ reputations. He just returned from being a delegate on the Design Features Council where two architecture firms approached him and said, “As soon as we get a resume from a SCAD student, they go right on top of the pile.”
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Who: Jonathan Rabb, Writing Professor
“Don’t be afraid to experiment. This is the place. As much as we are trying to help you prepare yourselves for the world of publishing, editing and journalism, this is still a classroom and inside the classroom you need to try things, because if you don’t try them, you won’t know if something works for you.”
Jonathan Rabb was teaching and working on his third book in New York City when he and his wife decided to move south to Savannah for the year. He was flying to and from Spain to conduct research, and it made sense to live closer to family who could help take care of their children.
“But in the year we sort of fell in love with the place and decided we were going to stay,” said Rabb. “We discovered SCAD, both my wife and I, and both of us started teaching adjunct.”
He taught a couple courses on writing about place and really enjoyed the students. The writing department was growing, and the Rabbs were staying in Savannah and so he became a full time faculty member this fall.
“It just worked out beautifully,” said Rabb.
Rabb found writing in an indirect way. He received a bachelor’s degree in political theory and political science at Yale, then acted in off-Broadway productions for for two years. He missed academia and went back to study 16th Century political theory at Columbia University, where he discovered historical fiction while in the middle of working on his dissertation.
“I realized that I needed to inject that creative side of myself back into my work,” said Rabb. “Not that there isn’t creativity in pure academic work, but for me, it didn’t hit the right nerve. I discovered historical fiction and it was kind of the perfect blending of the two.”
Rabb is the author of the Berlin trilogy, including Rosa and Shadow and Light. The third installment in the series, “The Second Son,” comes out in February 2011.
