Rate My Professor Kevin Haran

Kevin Haran is Professor of Studio Art and Jenkins Distinguished Professor in Community Arts in the School of Visual Arts and Design at the University of Central Florida's College of Arts and Humanities. He earned a B.F.A. in Studio Art with a specialization in Drawing and a B.A. in Art History from the University of Central Florida in 1988, and an M.F.A. in Painting and Drawing from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in 1991. Early in his career, he served as Assistant Curator of Education from 1991 to 1993 and Associate Curator of Education from 1993 to 1995 at the Knoxville Museum of Art. Haran joined UCF in 1995 as Artist-in-Residence and Visiting Instructor for the Partners in Art for Visual Education (P.A.V.E.) Program. Over the years, he advanced through numerous roles, including Gallery Director from 1998 to 2004, P.A.V.E. Program Director from 1998 to 2007, Assistant Professor from 2003 to 2008, Assistant Chair of the Art Department from 2003 to 2010, Associate Professor from 2008 to 2020, Assistant Director of the School of Visual Arts and Design from 2013 to 2018, and Professor since 2020. Since 2013, he has administered the UCF Art in State Buildings public art program, and he has held the Jenkins Distinguished Professorship since 2018.

The artist's studio practice focuses on drawing, painting, and works on paper, with his oeuvre featured in over 80 national and international juried exhibitions. Solo exhibitions include Materiel: Sculpture and Works on Paper at UCF's Veterans Academic Resource Center in 2019, Counterpoint: Works by Kevin Haran at Valencia College in 2017, War Memorials: New Drawings at Gray's School of Art in Aberdeen, Scotland, in 2006, Kevin Haran: Transparencies at the UCF Art Gallery in 2005, and Painting History at A Shenere Velt Gallery in Los Angeles in 2005. His works reside in distinguished collections such as the National World War II Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana; Army Art Collection in Washington, DC; Cornell Fine Arts Museum in Winter Park, Florida; Fort Wayne Museum of Art; The Columbus Museum in Georgia; and Edinburgh College of Art in Scotland. Haran has received major accolades, including the UCF Founders' Day Award in 2025, a $20,000 grant from the Pabst Steinmetz Foundation in 2021 as principal investigator for the Orlando Health Cancer Institute Arts in Medicine Program, Third Prize at the Idaherma Museum of Art Foundation's Fifth Annual Juried Online Exhibition in 2023, Purchase Award at the 28th Annual McNeese National Works on Paper Exhibition in 2015, First Prize at the Works on Paper National Juried Exhibition at South Shore Art Center in 2014, and the College of Arts and Humanities Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching in 2011, among numerous other national awards and honors.