EIU Media Relations

Glenn Hild Student Art Gallery honors former EIU dean, instructor

(Charleston, IL) – Eastern Illinois University’s Board of Trustees voted in its November meeting to honor former Art professor, department chair, and dean of the College of Arts and Humanities Glenn Hild by naming the University’s Student Art Gallery in his honor.

The Glenn Hild Student Art Gallery in EIU’s Doudna Fine Arts Center will memorialize Hild’s life and work at the University from 1980-2016. According to information shared with EIU’s board of trustees by Vice President of University Advancement Ken Wetstein, Hild’s impact on the University and his commitment to the success of the students and the Art Department is legendary.

“The naming of the Glenn Hild Student Art Gallery not only serves as an appropriate legacy, but honors the dedication and commitment Glenn had for the University and its students,” Wetstein shared with EIU’s board of trustees during their regular meeting November 13.

Hild first joined the Art Department as faculty in 1980, then served as the chair of the Art Department from 1993-2014. He then elected to delay his retirement to serve as the Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities for two years. His significant impact on EIU was a byproduct of his commitment to the success of students, the EIU Art Department, the Doudna Fine Arts Center, and the larger arts community.

After Hild’s retirement in 2016, his colleagues from EIU’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Department of Art and Design worked together to identify and eventually actualize a space for the professional presentation of student art for display and recognition. Hild joined his wife Susan in participating in early talks about the project, with Glenn expressing how honored he felt that his legacy in the Art Department would be carried on in this way. Glenn passed away in April of 2018 and his friends, family, and colleagues have raised $100,000 for an endowment to provide long-term operating support for a student art gallery in the Doudna Center to honor Glenn’s memory. EIU’s board voted to approve naming the collaborative space the Glenn Hild Student Art Gallery at its November meeting.

Hild saw the gallery as an important way for EIU to enhance the professional experience for art students. The endowment will sustain the ongoing operating needs of the undergraduate student gallery in the Doudna Fine Art Center’s Art wing. This professional gallery space is intended to introduce students to the arts professions, provide opportunities for students to showcase their work and curate exhibitions, and act as a dynamic core for the Department of Art and Design.

For more information about EIU’s Doudna Fine Arts Center, visit https://www.eiu.edu/doudna/. For more information about EIU, or to learn more about its growing assortment of programs and services, visit the university’s website at www.eiu.edu, or call EIU’s public information office at (217) 581-7400.