The National Art Education Association has named Virginia Commonwealth University’s Melanie Buffington, Ph.D., the 2015 National Higher Education Teacher of the Year.
Buffington, assistant professor and graduate programs coordinator in the VCU School of the Arts’ Department of Art Education, has current research interests that include museum education, emerging technologies, culturally responsive pedagogy, contemporary art, service-learning and pre-service teacher preparation. She also has taught middle school art and interned in numerous museums.
The NAEA comprises visual arts educators. Members include primary, secondary and higher educators, researchers and scholars, teaching artists and students.