Tri-C Names New Dean of Creative Arts

February 10, 2014

Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C®) announces that G. Paul Cox, Ph.D., has been named dean of Creative Arts, where he will oversee eight academic programs and a variety of performing arts events.

Cox has worked at some of Northeast Ohio’s most prestigious institutions as an educator, musician and curator. He says he’ll approach his new role at Tri-C with the goal of creating meaningful experiences for students and audiences.

“I want to make the Center for Creative Arts a premier arts program in the United States,” Cox said. “I want to inspire students to do their most creative work and make them feel like they’ve found a home within a community of artists.”

Tri-C’s Center for Creative Arts includes academic programs in music; recording arts technology; art; visual communications and design; media arts; theater; and journalism. The Center also presents cultural showcases such as Tri-C JazzFest Cleveland and the Classical Piano Recital Series.

Prior to joining Tri-C, Cox held teaching positions at Oberlin College, Cleveland Institute of Music and Case Western Reserve University, where he directed a touring ensemble – the Case Percussion Group – known for its performance of new works composed for newly invented instruments.

He also served as assistant curator of music at the Cleveland Museum of Art, including a role as co-director of the internationally acclaimed Aki Festival of New Music. Cox produced more than 900 programs at the museum between 1995 and 2005.

As a percussionist, Cox has performed with members of the Cleveland Orchestra, the Cavani String Quartet, organist Karel Paukert, marimbist Robert van Sice and So Percussion, among other musicians.

Born and raised in Sitka, Alaska, he served as director of Sitka Fest, a summerlong arts and culture festival in his hometown funded through a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Cox lives in University Heights with his wife, Kirsten Docter, and their sons, Benjamin and Sebastian.