The School of the Arts leadership team features faculty and staff who are committed to student success, faculty research and creative activity and meaningful community engagement.
Leadership
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Amanda Ashley
Director of the School of the Arts, Professor in the School of the Arts, Professor in the School of Public Service
Amanda Ashley is a professor of Urban Studies and Community Development at Boise State University with appointments in the School of Public Service and the School of the Arts in the College of Arts and Sciences. Her interdisciplinary research focuses on the role of placemaking and place belonging in cities and communities. Her recent work focuses on arts and cultural planning, on the role of higher education institutions as arts and cultural anchors and on the emergence of creative city policies and governance. Her work has been supported by the National Endowment for the Arts and she has received the Larry Gould Best Article award and New Scholar Award from the Western Social Science Association. She is a Boise Department of Arts and History Commissioner and she sits on the Garden City Placemaking Planning Group.
Ph.D. — City and Regional Planning from the Weitzman School of Design, University of Pennsylvania
MURP — Urban and Regional Planning from the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota
Amanda Ashley is a professor of Urban Studies and Community Development at Boise State University with appointments in the School of Public Service and the School of the Arts in the College of Arts and Sciences. Her interdisciplinary research focuses on the role of placemaking and place belonging in cities and communities. Her recent work focuses on arts and cultural planning, on the role of higher education institutions as arts and cultural anchors and on the emergence of creative city policies and governance. Her work has been supported by the National Endowment for the Arts and she has received the Larry Gould Best Article award and New Scholar Award from the Western Social Science Association. She is a Boise Department of Arts and History Commissioner and she sits on the Garden City Placemaking Planning Group.
Ph.D. — City and Regional Planning from the Weitzman School of Design, University of Pennsylvania
MURP — Urban and Regional Planning from the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota
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Leslie Durham
Dean, College of Arts and Sciences
Leslie Durham, Ph.D., is Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Boise State University, where she has also served as Associate Dean, Director of the School of the Arts, and as a faculty member in Theatre, Film, and Creative Writing. She is in her seventh year leading Boise State’s largest and most diverse academic college, which includes 21 departments spanning the arts, humanities, social and natural sciences. Arts and Sciences is the academic home of 216 part-time faculty, 224 full-time staff, and 378 full-time faculty, who serve 5,345 undergraduate students and 345 graduate students while also delivering 84% of the university’s general education curriculum. The college has a thriving research portfolio leading to more than $26M in expenditures last year and is grateful for strong philanthropic support, which totaled $8.8M last year.
Under Dr. Durham’s leadership, the College of Arts and Sciences has launched a variety of innovative initiatives including the School of the Arts, the School of the Environment, and the School for the Digital Future; the COAS Innovation Lab, which has awarded approximately $500K to faculty within the college; Bronco Gap Year, a program that supported student learning during the pandemic; and interdisciplinary degree programs including Film and Television Arts, Environmental Science, Neuroscience, and Project Management.
She serves on the Planning Advisory Committee for Budget Modernization, the University Council on Tribal Initiatives, the Faculty Senate Ad Hoc Committee for Shared Governance, the Deans’ Council, and the University Administrative Council.
Dr. Durham remains active as a scholar, and her current work is funded through the National Endowment for the Arts Research Labs program.
Leslie Durham, Ph.D., is Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Boise State University, where she has also served as Associate Dean, Director of the School of the Arts, and as a faculty member in Theatre, Film, and Creative Writing. She is in her seventh year leading Boise State’s largest and most diverse academic college, which includes 21 departments spanning the arts, humanities, social and natural sciences. Arts and Sciences is the academic home of 216 part-time faculty, 224 full-time staff, and 378 full-time faculty, who serve 5,345 undergraduate students and 345 graduate students while also delivering 84% of the university’s general education curriculum. The college has a thriving research portfolio leading to more than $26M in expenditures last year and is grateful for strong philanthropic support, which totaled $8.8M last year.
Under Dr. Durham’s leadership, the College of Arts and Sciences has launched a variety of innovative initiatives including the School of the Arts, the School of the Environment, and the School for the Digital Future; the COAS Innovation Lab, which has awarded approximately $500K to faculty within the college; Bronco Gap Year, a program that supported student learning during the pandemic; and interdisciplinary degree programs including Film and Television Arts, Environmental Science, Neuroscience, and Project Management.
She serves on the Planning Advisory Committee for Budget Modernization, the University Council on Tribal Initiatives, the Faculty Senate Ad Hoc Committee for Shared Governance, the Deans’ Council, and the University Administrative Council.
Dr. Durham remains active as a scholar, and her current work is funded through the National Endowment for the Arts Research Labs program.
Department Chairs
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Lori Gray
Acting Department Chair, Music; Associate Professor; Director of Music Education
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Raquel Davis
Chair, Department of Theatre, Film and Creative Writing and Associate Professor of Lighting Design
MFA — Design for Stage and Film, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University
BA — Theatre Design and Art History, Middlebury CollegeMFA — Design for Stage and Film, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University
BA — Theatre Design and Art History, Middlebury College -
Anthony Ellertson
Director and Clinical Professor for the GIMM program
Anthony has been working with interactive media, games and mobile devices for the majority of the last 20 years. His dissertation centered on an eportfolio project using the Rich Internet Application model long before that term was widely used.
Anthony has been working with interactive media, games and mobile devices for the majority of the last 20 years. His dissertation centered on an eportfolio project using the Rich Internet Application model long before that term was widely used.
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Dan Scott
Chair, Department of Art, Design and Visual Studies
MFA — Painting, New York Academy of Art
BFA — Drawing and Ceramics, Boise State UniversityMFA — Painting, New York Academy of Art
BFA — Drawing and Ceramics, Boise State University
