Virginia Tech, based in Blacksburg, Va., has announced the appointment of RUTH WAALKES as executive director of the university’s new Center for the Arts, effective in late September. Activities at the center will take place in a complex of yet-to-be-constructed and renovated facilities housing a 1,300-seat performance hall, an art galley, and teaching and research spaces that will include a creative technologies lab, a collaborative performance lab, and a communications studio. Construction is projected to begin next year and to be completed by 2013. Waalkes is currently director of artistic initiatives at the University of Maryland’s Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, a post she has held since 2002. Prior to that she worked in the University of Maryland’s departments of corporate/foundation relations and alumni affairs. She has also served as director of programs for Virginia’s Arts Council of Fairfax. Waalkes holds a bachelor’s degree in theater and drama from the University of Michigan.
Posted July 21, 2009
