DETROIT (Feb. 1, 2007) – James (Tony) Crowley, chair of the Department of Art and Art History at Wayne State University, is pleased to announce the appointment of Lisa Baylis Gonzalez to the position of Art Exhibitions Director. Gonzalez oversees the university’s Elaine L. Jacob Gallery, a modern, two-story facility with an active schedule of exhibitions covering a broad spectrum of art and design, and the Community Arts Gallery, which focuses on the work of WSU students, alumni, faculty and Michigan artists.

Together, Wayne State’s art galleries offer unique opportunities for both the university and the Detroit-metropolitan communities and its visitors to be educated and inspired by art and design from our region, across the United States, and around the globe. Wayne State University’s Department of Art and Art History provides specialized undergraduate and graduate education in the history of art and a variety of studio media through student-centered programs, available to traditional and non-traditional students alike.

Lisa Baylis Gonzalez comes to Wayne State University with over 20 years of experience in arts and culture organizations, including at the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (M. H. de Young Museum and California Palace of the Legion of Honor), The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, and the Flint Institute of Arts. She did her undergraduate work in the history of art at the University of Michigan, graduate work in the history of art at the University of Southern California, and received her M.B.A. degree from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Gonzalez also serves as a peer reviewer for the American Association of Museum, the Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs, and the Institute for Museum and Library Services, and has done a variety of management and program consultancies for arts organizations nationwide.

Gonzalez hopes to expand the types of exhibitions and related educational programs presented, secure new resources for WSU’s art galleries and increase student and community involvement so that the benefits of the experiences offered by the presentation of special exhibitions can be widely enjoyed.