spe: about




		SPE: is a nonprofit, national membership organization dedicated to providing a forum for the understanding of photographic processes as a means of expressing creativity and cultural insight.

		Barbara Houghton - Professor of Art - Photography and Web Design - Northern Kentucky University
		SPE regional organizations serve to create a sense of community within each of eight geographic area of the United States. The Midwest region includes Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. It is the largest geographic area of the eight regions in SPE. Regional members and volunteers organize fall conferences. Conferences include image maker presentations and panel speakers, as well as invited speakers. Student exhibitions and presentations are also often included. Past region conferences have been hosted in Omaha Nebraska, St. Louis Missouri, Columbus Ohio, Chicago Illinois, Grand Rapids Michigan to name a few. Many regional associations also take an active role in advocacy issues, special publications and newsletters. The Midwest also sponsors scholarships for students (undergraduate and graduate) and adjunct faculty to attend the national conference. The Midwest Regional officers are: Chair, Shuichi Murakami, Treasurer, Victoria Veenstra, Secretary, Katie Miller, and Interim Webmaster, Adriane Little. Through programs and publications, SPE promotes the understanding of photography, in all its forms, and fosters developmentof photographic practice, teaching, scholarship and critical analysis. SPE members are among the most gifted photographers and teachers in the field. SPE is the national representational body for photography departments and faculty members of the college-level educational community, serving to unite and promote hundreds of degree-granting programs, and sponsoring allied institutions and workshops. In 1963, the Society for Photographic Education was established by a number of highly respected photographers, critics, historians and educators, including Nathan Lyons, John Szarkowski, Aaron Siskind and Henry Holmes Smith. Since then virtually all noted artists, curators and critics in the field of photography have been involved with SPE of SPE's programs at some point in their careers. SPE has become an important vehicle for the dissemination of information and criticism about new and experimental photography and related media. SPE's journal of record, Exposure, is one of the leading professional periodicals in the U.S. blending scholarly insight, historical perspectives, critical dialogue, and educational issues. Ideas for issues of exposure are solicited and reviewed annually. SPE's national conference, held in March of each year, is a four-day event featuring lectures, panel discussions and artists' presentations selected from national submissions, and balanced with presentations by nationally known speakers. The Society is more than a collection of some of the finest talents in the field today; it is the representational body for photography programs and faculty within the college-level educational community. As such, it serves to unite and promote the hundreds of degree-granting programs nationwide, as well as allied institutions and workshops. Present membership includes critics, curators, gallery directors, exhibiting photographers, photojournalists, students, teachers and collectors, both in the U.S. and abroad.

		Shuichi Murakami: Midwest Regional Chair Frostic School of Art Western Michigan University 1903 W. Michigan Ave Kalamazoo MI 49008-5213 email Shuichi: shuichi.murakami@gmail.com Victoria Veenstra: Midwest Regional Treasurer Associate Professor School of Communications Grand Valley State University 290 Lake Superior Hall Allendale, MI 49401 phone: 616.331.3668, 616.331.3957 email Victoria: veenstrv@gvsu.edu visit GVSU online: gvsu.edu/soc Katie Miller: Midwest Regional Secretary and Newsletter Editor More info soon email Katie: Katie.Miller@uwsp.edu Allyson Klutenkamper: Midwest Scholarship Coordinator Assistant Professor, Photography Program Coordinator Shawnee State University Department of Fine, Digital and Performing Arts 940 Second Street, Portsmouth, Ohio 45662 email Allyson: aklutenkamper@me.com Adriane Little: Midwest Regional Interim Webmaster Frostic School of Art Western Michigan University 1903 W. Michigan Ave Kalamazoo MI 49008-5213 email Adriane: adriane.little@wmich.edu Adriane's website: adrianelittle.com This site was designed by Jessie Mitchell