Ceramics Monthly: In August 2023, West Virginia University’s (WVU) board proposed drastic budget cuts, which included eliminating the ceramics program, among 31 other programs. Can you describe how this has unfolded and affected your community? 

Shoji Satake: Our ceramics program was recommended for elimination and eventually merged into a new 3D emphasis (combining Ceramics, Public Art, and Sculpture). WVU imposed a faculty reduction in the School of Art and Design. As of October 2023, my position as a tenured endowed faculty member with 17 years of service has been slated for elimination, along with 143 other full-time university faculty. In public universities, budget deficits are a reality as many state legislatures continue to cut funding. Liberal arts and humanities are continuously slashed as they are outside the scope of the current trends toward STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) as there seems to be less priority for STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) education. 

Our classes are full of art majors. The School of Art enrollment is near our historic high from 20 years ago. Our school has healthy endowments to even self-support our programs, yet this data was ignored or manipulated in ways that were used to justify the cuts to programs. Much of what has occurred at WVU is a direct result of this quantification and de-personification of the process into a business decision as well as an ideological shift among administrators to remold higher education. The state of West Virginia had a revenue surplus of $1.4 billion this past year yet, the university chose not to request any help in offsetting the $43 million budget deficit that was a direct result of reckless infrastructure buildup by an overly ambitious administration. 

CM: How do you adapt your teaching when the university and state priorities favor a business-oriented approach to education, diminishing the value of liberal arts and humanities degree programs, including ceramics? What advice or perspective would you offer students considering a ceramics degree? 

SS: Throughout this transformation, I’ve been asked numerous times about my thoughts on moving forward when the value of a ceramic education is called into question, as well as what insight I would share with those interested in pursuing a ceramics degree. I thought it would be more appropriate to end by sharing the thoughts of some of my wonderful students who have been caught up in this circumstance beyond their control. I could not agree more with their sentiments. 

“With the value of an education in ceramics being challenged, I am driven to consider how I can advocate for the arts. Not only ceramics, but also all art education is being called into question today. We need to find a way to show the value of art education to academic institutions and to our society at large.” 

“WVU’s recent cuts to the ceramics art program, I feel inspired to make more public art and to show my art in more non-ceramic venues in hopes of bringing more awareness to the value of ceramic art and artists.” 

“I pursued my MFA in ceramics searching for personal growth and development in my work. . . . In many ways, I learned just as much in my formal education as my informal, and this outside experience grounded me in school.” 

“Get involved with your community, make connections, and explore other opportunities to get the full potential out of your academic experience.” 

Topics: Ceramic Artists

Related Content