Barbara Bushey came to Hillsdale in 2001 for a position she knew was perfect for her. Twelve years later, Bushey now sits as the head of the art department as the chairman, replacing Professor of Art Samuel Knecht who held the position for 35 years and is taking a semester-long sabbatical.
“Well, when there’s only two full-time people in a department, and one of them isn’t the department head anymore, the choice is easy,” Bushey commented, laughing about her recent promotion.
The small department of five professors features two full-time professors, two part-time professors, and an artist-teacher.
Bushey will now be in charge of generating the class schedules each semester, supervising teaching, watching the budget (which she says she’s not excited about), doing staff evaluations, guiding professors through tenure and promotions, and being the face of the department.
On top of the administrative aspect of the position, Bushey will still get to teach classes and maintain student interactions.
Senior art major Lisa Graham has taken two classes from Bushey: design and art history and Renaissance to modern.
“In art history, I thought her insights into each individual thing we were studying was super intriguing and kept us engaged in all the right ways,” Graham said. “I actually found Design one of the more challenging classes because I think I finally figured out the difference between artistic and creative.
Graham also enjoys Bushey’s personality outside of the classroom.
“She’s really great in office hours. She’s always able to meet with us, and if I just happen to walk by randomly, I can go up to her and be like, ‘Hey Professor Bushey,’ and she’ll be like, ‘Hello cupcake,’” Graham said, with her best Bushey impression. “She shows a lot of insight for classes and concern for her students.”
Bushey enjoys teaching as much as her students her classes.
“I like that I teach studio and art history,” Bushey said, explaining her favorite parts of being a Hillsdale professor. “I like having small classes where I know everybody. I like having students who are interested in learning. You don’t get that everywhere.”
Bushey sees many benefits of a smaller school, noting that Hillsdale is small enough for students not to be overwhelmed but large enough to feel like they belong to something.
Bushey herself went to a large school: the University of Michigan. She said she didn’t want everyone to know her every move and her life story. Beginning as a physics major, she ultimately graduated with a degree in psychology.
After attaining an MFA and MA at Eastern Michigan University, Bushey started teaching part time “everywhere in Southeastern Michigan.”
Associate Professor of Art Anthony Frudakis took time off to build the George Washington statue on campus, which was dedicated in 2003, leaving an opening for an art historian able to teach drawing and design classes.
“In the arts, you’re either a maker or a historian. But I have an MFA and went back to school and got an MA in art history,” Bushey explained. “So I was like, ‘An art historian who can teach drawing and design? That’s me!’”
Bushey began at Hillsdale as a year-to-year professor, but soon switched to a tenure track.
Knecht has been feelings the “beginnings of thinking about retirement,” according to Bushey. She joked that the first step in the process of retiring is to not be department head.
When Knecht took his sabbatical, Bushey would have had to take over as the active head of the department. With an eye toward retirement, Knecht chose to step down from the position and pass the torch to Bushey.
“The timing just worked out,” Bushey said.
Through her teaching, Bushey has had the opportunity to travel with students on a three-month trip from London to Cairo, making stops all across Europe and the Middle East. She also went to Turkey in 2003 on the annual honors program trip.
But this world traveler is happy to be at Hillsdale and excited, if not somewhat nervous, for her new position.
“It’s the kind of position that people only notice when you’re not doing your job,” she explained. “If anything goes wrong, it’s your fault.”
She continued: “I haven’t burned the building down yet. I suppose everything will be ok.”
