On April 5th, devastating news was shared from the Dean of Faculty, Greg Watts, at the Cleveland Institute of Art, that Kathy Buszkiewicz and Matthew Hollern will be leaving CIA at the end of the 2023-24 fiscal year due to “sustainability reasons”. For students and alumni of the Jewelry + Metals department, learning that two CIA’s most influential professors are not leaving on their own accord is heartbreaking. Kathy and Matthew are foundational not only to Craft and Design but also to the history of CIA and have both held various leadership positions that helped support the school and the student body for 40 and 34 years, respectively. 

This petition is to ask the Cleveland Institute of Art to reconsider its decision to eliminate two integral faculty positions in the Jewelry + Metals concentration. We believe this decision will be catastrophic to the educational experience of students in Jewelry + Metals, Craft, and the school as a whole. Matthew and Kathy bring many decades of hands-on experience and material knowledge to every class they teach. In a discipline as steeped in historical and technical knowledge as jewelry and metalsmithing, their experience is critical and invaluable. Considering the vast scope of the jewelry field, no one faculty member can ever hope to properly cover all tools, materials, and skills: from soldering to lost wax casting, engraving, stone setting, acid etching, metal plating, chasing and repousse, 3D modeling and printing, the list goes on. Leaving a single faculty member to cover all bases, we express grave concern about the future of the concentration and the Craft department as a whole. We believe the value of a Craft education will be undoubtedly lessened if this decision stands. For these reasons, we ask that CIA reconsider its decision, preserving the opportunity for its students to receive an education from professors who have instructed and encouraged so many world-class artists, designers, and makers.

Craft is a foundational field in the fine and applied arts, with a long and respectable history at CIA. Since 1882, The Silversmith, Enamel, and Jewelry + Metals departments have shaped the skills and creative thinking of students who went on to achieve successful careers in teaching, research, galleries, and design firms, using their craft knowledge in fields spanning a large variety of creative mediums. Over the past 40 years, so many of these successful alumni were taught by Kathy and Matthew during their time at CIA. 

We do not see the choice that CIA is making as beneficial to the creative or technical education of current or future students in any way. If Kathy or Matthew have impacted you, shaped your educational experiences, expanded your horizons, and supported and encouraged you during and after your time at CIA, please sign this petition that will be shared with administration and the school. Besides this petition, please also send your own letters and stories supporting Kathy and Matthew to the Dean of Faculty, Greg Watts (gwatts@cia.edu), and voice your concern to CIA’s administration directly.

CEO/President of CIA: https://www.cia.edu/contact/user/kathryn-heidemann 

Email from Greg Watts:

"As some of you will recall, CIA announced the creation of the Craft + Design major in 2021. This move combined the three craft majors—Ceramics, Glass and Jewelry + Metals— with an intent to offer students a modern framework to pursue their passions in contemporary craft. The Craft + Design major officially started in the 2022–23 academic year, and since then, the department has successfully implemented its refined curriculum and transitioned to its new structure.

With that transition nearing an end, we conducted an analysis of the number of Craft + Design courses compared to the number of full-time faculty. This was a necessary and responsible step for us to take, and the results were clear: At this time it is no longer sustainable for CIA to have five ranked faculty positions in Craft + Design.

Three of those faculty positions are in the Jewelry + Metals concentration. Based on this imbalance, we've made the difficult decision to eliminate the two positions, those currently held by Kathy Buszkiewicz and Matthew Hollern. This change will take effect at the end of the 2023–24 fiscal year.

It isn't easy to share this news. Kathy and Matthew have helped shape the careers—and lives—of CIA students for 40 and 34 years, respectively. They are both distinguished educators, and their dedication to teaching has earned them CIA's prestigious Viktor Schreckengost Teaching Excellence Award. They are also accomplished and innovative artists, and over the years, their contributions to our college have been truly valued. We thank them for everything they've done for CIA.

We realize this unfortunate news likely comes as a surprise. We also realize that an announcement about position eliminations might lead to questions about CIA's future—especially in light of Notre Dame College's recently announced closure and reported budget woes at nearby Baldwin Wallace University, Lake Erie College and Lakeland Community College.

On behalf of CIA's administration, I want to make clear to our community that this announcement should not—and does not—signal that we are in the same position as these other Northeast Ohio schools. Instead, today's message is an intent to be transparent about a difficult but necessary department-specific decision and how it affects two admired and respected faculty members.

Kathy and Matthew have left their marks on CIA. In the weeks ahead, we hope you'll join us in sharing gratitude for the many ways in which they've shaped CIA and molded generations of Jewelry + Metals students.

Sincerely, Greg Watts

Vice President of Academic Affairs + Dean of Faculty"