Arne Flaten, a well-traveled professor and distinguished scholar, is making Baton Rouge his new home as the College of Art and Design’s new dean.
Last week, LSU’s Executive Vice President and Provost Roy Haggerty thanked current Interim Dean Rod Parker and announced that beginning July 1, Arne Flaten of Purdue University will become the next dean of the College of Art and Design at LSU.
Flaten’s father was a diplomat, causing him to grow up traveling the world. At an international school in Kigali, Rwanda, where his father was the U.S. ambassador, Flaten and his wife spent a year teaching, just before the Rwandan Genocide of 1994. Flaten believes his life experiences have given him a unique outlook on the world, filled with empathy, creativity, patience and equity.
Flaten earned two bachelor’s degrees in studio art and English literature from St. Olaf College in Minnesota and obtained his master’s and doctoral degrees in Italian renaissance art history from Indiana University Bloomington.
From here, Flaten worked as a visiting assistant professor at Virginia Tech. He held jobs as an assistant professor, associate professor and chair of the department of visual arts and art history at Coastal Carolina University, eventually becoming the associate dean of the university’s humanities and fine arts college. He has also been the director of the School of Art at Ball State University.
Flaten is a fully tenured professor and has been the head of the Rueff School of Design, Art and Performance at Purdue University since 2019.

At his previous universities, Flaten has brought in over $60 million in donations as well as expanded facilities and established entire new degree plans and study abroad programs. He is also an elected member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts and holds membership with organizations like the National Council of Arts Administrators, the Renaissance Society of America and the Phi Beta Kappa Society.
Flaten says it was Interim Dean Parker who encouraged Flaten to pursue the job, leading him to visit campus where he was able to meet the students, faculty and administration. He says that everybody at LSU was so warm and welcoming, and he could really tell how people were committed to moving forward toward great things.
“The College of Art and Design has the potential to do really cool stuff,” Flaten said. “The more I spoke to people the more I realized this is a great opportunity to get involved with great faculty and do some really cool things together.”
At Purdue, Flaten oversees all the degrees for art and design as well as music, theatre and dance. At LSU, he says he will be able to focus on the areas closer to his heart and skill set, prioritizing working with donors, trying to increase the gifts he can bring in to support the arts and ultimately, supporting students and faculty beyond just the budget.
LSU has expressed interest in joining the American Association of Universities, a group of 69 public and private universities that are considered the finest in research and education in America. Joining the AAU is part of LSU President William Tate IV’s Scholarship First Agenda, the president’s plan for LSU to have the same nationwide prowess academically as it does in athletics.

Flaten, whose previous university was an AAU member, says having the arts be a fundamental part of moving the university into that membership is something he would love to be a part of.
“LSU is significantly more supportive of the arts as an environment, so that’s exciting for me to know that there’s that kind of support for the faculty, the students and the culture,” Flaten said.
In his first year in Baton Rouge, Flaten looks forward to listening a lot. He says he plans on spending the year getting to know the people, the culture, the traditions and the ethos of the university, as well as his college. From there, he will gauge what kind of growth opportunities there are, all while listening to the wants of the faculty, students and staff.
“I don’t come into a job like this thinking anyone there works for me,” Flaten said. “I work for the faculty, to help make them love their jobs even more and feel like I do: like you are one of the luckiest people that’s walked on this planet to be able to do stuff that you love so much.”