New Staff Appointments at the Division of the Arts

We are delighted to announce two new staff appointments — Heather Owens has been appointed Arts Outreach and Engagement Coordinator, and Liz Root is the new Arts Recruitment Coordinator.

The new Arts Outreach and Engagement Coordinator position builds an infrastructure of positive connections to support strong relationships and partnerships with campus partners and with our local creative industry and community. In this role, Heather will run the Division’s student funding programs (Artivism Student Action Program, Arts Business Competition) and organize events to build community among and within arts majors, student organizations, affiliates, arts enthusiasts, and arts faculty and staff. She will also initiate and strengthen relationships with campus and community organizations, including managing memberships and sponsorship requests. In addition, Heather will be project lead on the 3-year Arts for Everyone, Everywhere initiative funded by the Baldwin Wisconsin Idea Endowment, with a focus on interdisciplinary arts community engagement around the state.

Heather Owens headshotHeather Owens (she/her/hers) has worked and volunteered for numerous years in communications and marketing, community outreach, business development, and event planning for multiple organizations. She has been at UW–Madison Division of the Arts since August 2014. She worked for the Art Institute of Chicago and served on two boards for the Denver Art Museum. She worked at CU-Boulder and volunteered in K-12 schools in Chicago and Colorado. Heather received an MA in Art and Design from the University of Northern Colorado and a BBA in Marketing and a minor in French from UW–Eau Claire.

The Arts Recruitment Coordinator is a new position shared between the Office of Admissions and Recruitment and the Division of the Arts that will develop, coordinate, and execute an arts recruitment and admissions strategy. Liz will collaborate with both offices and with academic arts departments across campus to recruit, admit, and yield students interested in the arts. She will travel to arts-focused fairs and schools, review applications, participate in our on-campus events and information sessions, and work with our data team to develop arts-focused enrollment dashboards. She will also chair the Arts Recruitment Working Group, coordinated by the Arts Division, and will be the admissions lead for the First Wave program. She will work with student arts ambassadors in the Arts Division to conduct campus community outreach, including prospective and admitted student events and SOAR.

Liz Root headshotLiz Root (she/her/hers) has worked in the Mead Witter School of Music since 2020 as an Ensemble Coordinator, which is a liaison role between faculty, students, and guest performers to prepare programs, music, and equipment for performances. Prior to moving to Madison, Liz worked for three years at Kent State University as the Recruitment Coordinator and an Adjunct Instructor at the Hugh A. Glauser School of Music. In this role she conducted on-campus and off-campus outreach to recruit music majors. Liz holds dual Bachelor’s degrees in Music Performance (Flute) and Music Education as well as a Master of Music Performance in Flute.