NEW YORK.- Nicola Courtright, President of the Board of Directors of the College Art Association (CAA), announced today the appointment of Linda Downs as Executive Director, effective late summer 2006. CAA provides essential professional services and resources and is an advocate for artists, art historians, and students in the visual arts. Among the ways it promotes national and international discussions of the latest developments and issues affecting the visual arts and art history is through its Annual Conference, which attracts approximately 5,000 participants yearly, and through a number of scholarly art history publications and exhibitions. As Executive Director, Downs will articulate a renewed vision for CAA and provide key leadership for CAA’s staff to enhance its work on behalf of the 15,500 members as well as 61 affiliated societies.

Downs, who succeeds Susan Ball, also will represent CAA on a number of organizational boards and national advisory committees, such as the Conference of Administrative Officers (CAO) of the American Council of Learned Societies. She will be a spokesperson on issues related to education and freedom of _expression and will deepen CAA’s role to help to shape the future of the study and teaching of art and its history.

“Linda Downs brings to CAA an extraordinary range of strengths that will make CAA’s role even more vital,” said Nicola Courtright, CAA Board President. “She is an accomplished administrator, art historian, and teacher, as well as a respected and innovative museum educator. We are delighted to have Linda join us. We have great confidence that she will build on the dramatic growth CAA experienced during Susan Ball’s twenty-year tenure.”

“I am honored to have this opportunity to serve CAA as Executive Director,” Downs commented. “I look forward to gaining a greater understanding of the organization from the inside, focusing on member services and building on the comprehensive plan developed by the Board, Committees, and staff.”

In 2002, Downs became Executive Director of the Figge Art Museum in Davenport, Iowa. Among her major accomplishments during her four-year tenure at the Figge Art Museum were overseeing its conversion from a municipal to a private museum and the creation and opening of a new and highly acclaimed 100,000-square-foot museum building, designed by British architect David Chipperfield. She also was instrumental at the Figge in developing a strong series of historical and contemporary exhibitions as well as greatly enhancing other public programs and educational offerings.

From 1989 to 2002, Downs was Head of Education for the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, and, from 1976 to 1989, Curator of Education at the Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan. She is a Ph.D. candidate in cultural history at American University; holds a Master of Arts in the History of Art from University of Michigan; and a Bachelor of Philosophy from Monteith College, Wayne State University. She has taught extensively and organized many exhibitions devoted to modern as well as historical themes and subjects. Downs has published numerous papers and monographs, most notably on the work of Diego Rivera. A member of CAA since she was an undergraduate, Downs has served on the organization’s Education and Museum committees.