Arts research, diversity and racial equity, and meaningful community engagement are themes that Dean Brook Muller applies with great intention to leading UNC Charlotte’s College of Arts + Architecture (CoA+A). His progressive leadership approach is attributable to his Vermont upbringing and experience at the University of Oregon, where he directed the architecture program.

Since his arrival in Charlotte in fall 2019 to spearhead CoA+A’s next chapter, Muller has adapted to living in one of the nation’s fastest-growing cities, in part by taking advantage of the Lynx Blue Line to commute between campus and Uptown Charlotte.

“I don’t own a car,” said Muller. “I can take the light rail to work and walk everywhere.”

He sees Charlotte’s rapid growth as an opportunity for COA+A to engage more deeply with the community. “There is an enormous amount of impact that we can make, and people are looking to us and have been receptive to the idea of our helping to facilitate a conversation about the future of the city.”

A primary goal for Muller is to bring diversity to the forefront in areas of curriculum, programming, recruitment and hiring to further cultivate a culture of equity and inclusion among COA+A’s faculty, staff and student body. 

“This issue is enormously important,” he said. ”Perhaps now more than ever.” 

Reflections on conversations with his father, a retired history professor, while sailing on Lake Champlain in his native Green Mountain State have prompted Muller to recognize that what has been emphasized in American history has enormous implications for contemporary discussions about building an anti-racist learning culture. 

“American history focuses heavily on white guys performing heroic deeds,” he said. “But there are other actors who deserve our consideration.”

 Key to the CoA+A’s strategic vision for the next five years is evaluating and revising curricula to prepare students to thrive in a global society. In Muller’s view, learning about different cultures is empowering for students.

“If we don’t have a diverse faculty leading these classes, then we’ve got problems,” he said. “We need people who enable us to understand perspectives different from those we grew up hearing about.”

Muller sees ways that academic research in the arts and architecture carry the potential to make an impact beyond those immediate fields.

“People may not think about what we do as artists and designers as a form of research,” he said. “Actually, we engage very seriously in research.

“We must define research broadly,” Muller said. “I recognize that the arts are seen by some as helping visualize the hard research occurring in the sciences, and yet if we are talking about meaning making, then artistic sensibilities, practices and research have a central role to play.”

Muller praised the sustainability research by faculty members in the School of Architecture, such as Associate Professor Kyoung Hee Kim’s development of microalgae-filled window systems. 

“I studied net-zero building design in the Pacific Northwest,” he said. “That’s much easier to do in a region with a more temperate climate than in a hot and humid climate such as in the South. It’s harder to find passive means for heating, lighting and cooling buildings. But we need to figure out how to do it in a growing city like Charlotte.”

The College of Arts+Architecture’s history of community engagement runs deep, with faculty, students and alumni collaborating with institutions such as AIA Charlotte, McColl Center for Art + Innovation, Charlotte Symphony, Children’s Theatre of Charlotte and the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art to create shared programming, develop internships and expand the classroom into the city.

“My decision to come to UNC Charlotte was reinforced on the first day of new faculty orientation in August 2019, which took place Uptown, where conversations with city council members and leaders of nonprofits and community organizations made an enormous impression,” Muller said.

Even during a global pandemic, faculty, students and alumni have found unique channels to engage with community partners and the public:

“We looked for a vision builder for our College of Arts +Architecture who will support the growth of all the college’s disciplines and extend our community partnerships and service in the Charlotte region,” Provost Joan Lorden said. “We have found that leader in Brook Muller.”

Muller said the value of artists and designers rises during times of anguish and pain. He points to the Remembrance Concert organized by Lynne Conner, chair of the Department of Theatre, to mark the first anniversary of the campus shooting that occurred on April 30, 2019.

“During times of crisis and soul searching, the arts often are the first place people turn to,” he said. “I say why can’t we look to the arts and culture as a place for people to go on a daily basis.”