Nick Tobier Profiled

The Ginsberg center has published a feature article about A&D Professor Nick Tobier’s recent Ernest A. Lynton Award, and the innovative work that led to this honor.
From Art Professor Tobier Wins Award for Community Engagement, by Caroline Massad:

University of Michigan Art and Design professor Nick Tobier received a national award this summer for his record of incorporating community outreach, service and involvement into his academic work.

The Ernest A. Lynton Award, given by the New England Resource Center for Higher Education (NERCHE), recognizes an untenured faculty member who not only collaborates with the non-academic community to solve problems through his or her work, but also makes community engagement integral to his or her teaching and research.

Tobier’s work includes unconventional public exhibits and projects that directly address social problems. His students build 14-foot tall puppets for Ann Arbor’s annual FestiFools parade – which Tobier and Lloyd Hall scholar Mark Tucker conceived – teach art in Detroit elementary schools, and in one class through the University’s Global Intercultural Experience for Undergraduates (GIEU) program, turned a vacant lot in Detroit into an outdoor classroom while living with local families.