'Professor emeritus' status for Damkoehler

Retiring art faculty member David Damkoehler will be granted professor emeritus status at UW-Green Bay commencement this Saturday (Dec 20).

Damkoehler joined the UW-Green Bay faculty in 1969, the year the campus opened at its bayshore location. He won the Founders Association Award for Excellence in Scholarship in 1998 for his work as an artist. His emphasis on industrial materials and art metals — primarily stainless steel, in jewelry, flatware and ornaments — gained favorable national attention, with placement in permanent collections nationwide and dozens of national and international exhibitions.

Damkoehler was also honored (2002-2006) as holder of the Rosenberg Professorship at UW-Green Bay. The Arts and Visual Design (previously Communication and the Arts) professor also won praise for his efforts in building UW-Green Bay’s environmental design program and in lending his design expertise to a variety of local and regional planning initiatives. He is a native of Oconto who earned his bachelor’s degree in art at UW-Oshkosh and a master of fine arts degree from Kent State University.

Damkoehler designed the stainless-steel ceremonial mace used to lead commencement processionals, including this Saturday’s, at UW-Green Bay.