The School of Art in the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences is excited to welcome scholar and educator Juan Carlos Castro to the virtual Visiting Lecture Series, at 5:30 p.m. tomorrow, Thursday, April 21.

Castro is chair and associate professor in the Department of Art Education at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He was recently named the National Higher Education Art Educator of the year by the National Art Education Association at their national convention in March. NAEA is the world's leading professional organization for visual arts, design and media arts education professionals. 

Thursday, April 21, Castro will discuss elements of his research focusing on the dynamics and qualities of knowing, learning and teaching art through social and mobile media as understood through complexity thinking, network theory and mobility studies. 

"Informed by mobility studies and network theory, Dr. Castro's research generates important questions about the relational dynamics between social and mobile media, art and the complexities of teaching and learning," said Christopher Schulte, endowed associate professor of art education and assistant director of the School of Art. "His scheduled talk, Digital Visual Learning Networks, serves as an invitation for students and faculty in the School of Art to contemplate the pedagogic potential of their daily participation in digital visual networks."

Castro's past research examines how mobile media coupled with creative production networks knowledge in urban environments to create educational and civic engagement with teens and young adults. 

He was the principal investigator for the Social Sciences and Humanities Council Insight funded project MonCoin: Investigating mobile learning networks to foster educational engagement with at-risk youth and currently the principal investigator of the SSHRC funded project Investigating the Creative Practices of Youth in Digital Visual Learning Networks. 

Before joining the faculty at Concordia University, Carlos taught at the University of Illinois, University of British Columbia, Johns Hopkins University, Maryland Institute College of Art and the Burren College of Art. 

He is a former National Board Certified Teacher and taught at Towson High School in Maryland. As a high school teacher, Castro's teaching and curriculum were awarded a Coca-Cola Foundation Distinguished Teacher in the Arts from the National Foundation for the Advancement in the Arts and twice awarded with a U.S. Presidential Scholars Teacher Recognition Award. 

In 2013, he was awarded the Manuel Barkan Memorial Award from the National Art Education Association. Carlos is the past chair of the National Art Education Association Research Commission. He is also co-editor of the books entitled Educational, Psychological, and Behavioral Considerations in Niche Online Communities and Youth practices in digital arts and new media: Learning in formal and informal settings. He is editor of Mobile media in and outside of the art classroom: Attending to identity, spatiality, movement and materiality.

Learn more about Carlos and his work by joining his virtual lecture at 5:30 p.m. tomorrow, Thursday, April 21. 

Webinar link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85699152845.