Christopher M. Schulte, Ph.D. is Associate Director of the School of Art and Interim Program Director and Endowed Professor of Art Education at the University of Arkansas. He joined the faculty in the School of Art in 2019, where he has since served in a variety of academic leadership roles, including Undergraduate Coordinator of Art Education, Interim Director of Graduate Studies in Art Education, Assistant Director of the School of Art, and Interim Director of the School of Art. Schulte’s research interests center on the artistic, play-based, and aesthetic practices of children, with particular attention given to drawing and its relationship to historical and contemporary childhoods. In support of this work, Schulte founded and now directs the Center for the Study of Childhood Art, a center for interdisciplinary research, teaching and community engagement focused on reconceptualizing the study and practice of the visual arts in children's lives. Schulte is co-editor with Dr. Laura Trafi-Prats of New Images of Thought in the Study of Childhood Drawing(2022, Springer), co-editor with Dr. Hayon Park of Visual Art With Young Children: Practices, Pedagogies and Learning (2021, Routledge), editor of Ethics and Research With Young Children: New Perspectives (2019, Bloomsbury), and co-editor with Dr. Christine Marmé Thompson of Communities of Practice: Art, Play and Aesthetics in Early Childhood(2018, Springer). In addition to his existing research record, Schulte is a Distinguished Fellow of the National Art Education Association, recipient of the Viktor Lowenfeld Award, an invited member of the Childhood, Law & Policy Network at Queen Mary University of London, an elected member of the Council for Policy Studies in Art Education, and an elected member of the Steering Committee of the Art Education Research Institute. Additionally, Schulte is past-chairperson of the Seminar for Research in Art Education, past-coordinator of the Elliot Eisner Doctoral Dissertation Research Award in Art Education, and past-coordinator of the Marilyn Zurmuehlen Working Papers in Art Education. Schulte holds a B.A. and M.A. in Art Education from the University of Northern Iowa and a Ph.D. in Art Education from The Pennsylvania State University.
Jeffrey M. Cornwall, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor of Art Education at Colorado State University. Dr. Cornwall serves as Associate Director of the Center for the Study of Childhood Art. Informed by post-structural thinking and theories of affect, his research focuses on children’s learning and making within the public elementary school by engaging critical research and artistic methodologies to think and make with and alongside children. Dr. Cornwall began his journey in art education and study of children’s art as the art teacher at Edgemont Elementary school in Utah. His research has appeared in journals such as Qualitative Inquiry, Visual Arts Research and Studies in Art Education as well as international edited volumes Visual Arts with Young Children: Practices, Pedagogies, and Learning and Postdevelopmental Approaches to Childhood Research Observation. Dr. Cornwall earned his Ph.D. in Art Education for The Pennsylvania State University and MA and BA in Art Education from Brigham Young University.
Lily Mank, PLA is Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Arkansas and a licensed landscape architect. Lily is also an affiliate faculty with the Center for the Study of Childhood Art. Her work focuses on co-creating equitable, health-promoting, and socially sustainable environments with teenagers and emerging adults using participatory design and arts-based methods. Her current projects aim to investigate underrepresented adolescents’ experiences of outdoor play, the role of everyday nature in fostering well-being, and policy landscapes that influence youth access to public space. Mank’s interdisciplinary approach bridges landscape architecture, public health, and youth studies, with the goal of shifting design, policy, and planning practices towards recognizing and upholding children’s role as stakeholders with inherent rights to shape our shared built environment. Lily earned a BS and MS in Landscape Architecture from the University of Wisconsin and is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Environment and Natural Resources at The Ohio State University.
In Memoriam
Hayon Park, Ph.D., was Associate Director of the Center for the Study of Childhood Art and Assistant Professor of Art Education at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. Informed by critical, poststructuralist, and post-developmental approaches, Dr. Park's research and teaching focused on the politics, ethics, and aesthetics of childhood art and culture. Her work has appeared in national and international peer-reviewed journals, including Studies in Art Education, Qualitative Inquiry, Art Education, and Visual Arts Research, as well as in edited volumes at the intersection of visual arts education and early childhood studies. Dr. Park was the author of Ranciere and Emancipatory Art Pedagogies: The Politics of Childhood Art (2023) and co-editor of Visual Arts with Young Children: Practices, Pedagogies, and Learning (2021). As Associate Director of the Center for the Study of Childhood Art, Dr. Park co-hosted the Childhood Art Speaker Series, Childhood Art: A CSCA Podcast, and was a founding editor of the journal Childhood Art: An International Journal of Research. Dr. Park was a beloved daughter, sister, friend, scholar and educator. Dr. Park's brilliance as a researcher and teacher will remain present in our work and thinking for generations, and her kind and generous spirit will continue to serve as a source of hope and inspiration for all. Dr. Park earned her Ph.D. and MS in Art Education from The Pennsylvania State University and a BFA in Painting from Ewha Womans University.
Previous Childhood Art Graduate Assistants
Brittany Paul (2025-2026) Graduate Assistant | Fayetteville, AR | MA in Art Education
Katy Galaz (2022-2024) Graduate Assistant | Tucson, Arizona | MA in Art Education
Previous Childhood Art Interns
Olivia Dyer (2021-2023) Research Intern | Mountain Home, Arkansas | BFA in Art Education + Minors in Psychology and Social Work
Haley Tucker (2021) Design Intern | Little Rock, Arkansas | BFA in Graphic Design
Vanessa Davis (2020-2021) Design Intern | Dallas, Texas | BFA in Graphic Design + Minors in Journalism and Art History
Morgan Garner (2019-2020) Teaching and Learning Intern | Fort Worth, Texas | BFA in Art Education + Minor in Art History
Leigh Blocker(2019-2020) Teaching and Learning Intern | Huntsville, Arkansas | BFA in Art Education