Kathryn Shields strives to build community through culture, connection, and storytelling.
As a curious, innovative, and responsive academic leader, she seeks opportunities to transform teaching, learning, and advising. Her interest in building infrastructure that supports those systems leads her to promote sustainable opportunities for holistic development in which students set and achieve goals and effectively tell the stories of their academic journey.
She serves as Interim Associate Provost and Associate Academic Dean at Guilford College in North Carolina, where she also co-Chairs the Art Department; coordinates the Integrative Experience and Presidential Fellows Programs; and oversees Academic Student Support for the College (Student Support and Retention; the Counseling Center; Accessibility Resources Center; Learning and Writing Center; and CAPE: Career, Academic and Personal Exploration Advising Center). She earned her PhD at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Her scholarship and pedagogy revolve around masking, identity, collaboration, equitable social practice, critical engagement strategies, and learning by doing.
Her publications include:
- the introduction to visual art textbook, Gateways to Art, 4th edition (2023), co-authored with Debra J. DeWitte and Ralph M. Larmann. The 5th edition is in production
- the essay “The Drama of Identity: Masking and Evolving Notions of Self in Contemporary Photography” in the collection Masquerade: Essays on Tradition and Innovation Worldwide edited by Deb Bell
- and an edited collection called Creative Collaboration in Art Practice, Research, and Pedagogy, co-edited with Sunny Spillane
For a full Curriculum Vita: cv-mks-2025
M. Kathryn Shields, Ph.D. 