Anoka Faruqee Appointed Associate Dean at the Yale School of Art

The Yale School of Art is pleased to announce that Co-Director of Graduate Studies in Painting and Printmaking, Anoka Faruqee, has been appointed Associate Dean, filling a position at the School of Art that has been vacant since 2018. Beginning her new role in the 2022-2023 academic year, Faruqee has been a faculty member in Painting and Printmaking for over a decade and has led the department since her appointment as Director in 2015.

Faruqee’s fellow Co-Director of Graduate Studies, Meleko Mokgosi, will lead the department as its sole director at the start of the new academic year, with Oscar Cornejo continuing in his role as Graduate Coordinator. Faruqee will continue to teach in and outside of the Painting and Printmaking department as Associate Dean, while developing and leading new collaborative administrative priorities and projects.

“I’m excited to work with Dean Pinder, the faculty, staff, and students at the School to fulfill the School’s mission of inspiring and supporting emerging artists and designers,” Faruqee shared of her forthcoming role, “I especially welcome the opportunity to get to know students and faculty in all of the departments, and facilitate meaningful interdepartmental exchange.”

First appointed as a faculty member in Painting and Printmaking in 2011, Faruqee has taught a range of undergraduate and graduate courses, including the pivotal “Junior Seminar” for undergraduate art majors at Yale College, and “Colorspace” and “Civics” for graduate students. Faruqee served as the Acting Director of Graduate Studies of the Painting and Printmaking Program from 2012 to 2013, before her formal appointment as Director of Graduate Studies in the fall of 2015. Five years later, Meleko Mokgosi joined Faruqee as Co-Directors of the Painting and Printmaking program in the fall of 2020.

As Director of Graduate Studies, Faruqee established regular town halls and anonymous surveys to gather student feedback on curriculum, climate, and culture. Working diligently with the Painting and Printmaking faculty to strengthen the curriculum and apply intentional critique formats, Faruqee simultaneously maintains a robust independent painting practice alongside longtime collaborator David Driscoll.

On the School level, Faruqee facilitated a joint faculty mission statement in 2020 which led to the formation of several working groups that fostered interdepartmental conversations on curriculum, governance, and post-graduate opportunities. Faruqee previously served as Diversity Coordinator at the School of Art from the fall of 2013 through the spring 2016, advising the Diversity Committee initiated by graduate students and organizing school-wide meetings. She said, “I look forward to working with a new Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) staff person at the School of Art to continue the process of aligning the School’s values to its curriculum and governance structures.”

Faruqee earned a BA from Yale University in 1994 and an MFA from Tyler School of Art in 1997. She has exhibited her work in the United States, Asia, and Europe at such venues at P.S.1 (Queens): Dhaka Art Summit (Dhaka); and Albright-Knox Gallery (Buffalo). In 2012, she began collaborating with David Driscoll and they have since exhibited their co-authored work at the Secession (Vienna); Björkholem Gallery (Stockholm); DeCordova Museum, (Lincoln); Koenig and Clinton (New York); and Hosfelt Gallery (San Francisco). Faruqee attended the Whitney Independent Study Program, the Skowhegan School of Art, and the P.S.1 National Studio Program. Grants include the Pollock-Krasner Foundation and Artadia. Faruqee has also taught at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and California Institute of the Arts, where she was co-director of the art program.