Unique Building Arts Program at Bryn Athyn College

Stephen Hartley Announced as Head of Building Arts Program

Bryn Athyn, Pa. – Bryn Athyn College is delighted to announce that Stephen Hartley will be joining the Bryn Athyn College faculty in the coming academic year as an assistant professor and head of the building arts program. In Hartley’s position in the arts department, he will lead the effort to take the current two-year Associate of Arts program and establish a four-year Bachelor of Fine Arts program for the building arts.

Review in July 2016 by a panel of experts from Pratt Institute, Columbia University, Parsons School of Design, The University of York (UK), and the American College of the Building Arts concluded that a four-year building arts program at Bryn Athyn could be highly successful based on Bryn Athyn College’s mission, the architectural resources of the nearby historic district, the history of the crafts in Bryn Athyn, and the institution’s geographic location. This four-year program would position graduates for entry-level positions in the professional crafts.

Bryn Athyn College’s four-year program in building arts would be only the second such program within the United States and the first to include a specialization in glass arts. This proposed program reflects a unique approach to higher education within the US and would allow Bryn Athyn College to serve as the model for heritage craft education in the 21st century.

Hartley has a Master of Fine Arts in historic preservation, and he is completing his doctorate in conservation studies at the University of York with a dissertation that examines the history of craft education in the US and UK. Hartley comes to Bryn Athyn with experience as department head of historic preservation and restoration at Savannah Technical College and, most recently, as a project officer at the University of York. He is also familiar with the building arts program at Bryn Athyn College and Bryn Athyn’s historic district, as he has previously taught in the Bryn Athyn College summer building arts workshops.

Hartley’s highly successful experience as department chair for a related program in Savannah and his graduate research on heritage craft preparation programs in the US and UK prepare him well for the challenge of helping Bryn Athyn’s arts department advance this exciting new building arts program.