Karene Taquin Faul: Art department chair and program innovator, Carondelet Medal Winner 2012

Karene Faul, who founded the College’s art and design program and steered it for decades, was known for her insistence on providing top-tier professional degrees in a liberal arts setting. In 27 years as chair, she saw the department move from a few rooms to the Picotte Center for Art & Design on State Street.

Under her leadership, Saint Rose established the BFA degree and helped secure crucial accreditation from the National Association of Schools of Art and Design. Some of the most prominent working artists came to talk to students. And students frequently visited galleries and museums throughout the Northeast, and secured influential internships. The high standards she and other program founders set continue today as two generations of graduates have gone on to make their mark worldwide.

Faul, whose legacy has lived on in the annual alumni show in her name, is also known for her work in the community. She taught art at the Emmaus House programs for new refugees near the Saint Rose campus and recruited students to do so. When she died in 2012 after 42 years at Saint Rose, students and colleagues commented on Faul’s own talents as a printmaker. But it was the education she made possible for thousands of students, they agreed, that was her life’s work.