Charles O’Connor

Dean, Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Charles O’Connor became the Hixson-Lied Endowed Dean of the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts at UNL in 2012. Previously, he was dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Indiana University-Purdue University; chair of the Department of Theatre at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas; executive director of the Nevada Conservatory Theatre; and a member of the faculty in UNL’s Department of Theatre Arts, now the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film.

O’Connor earned a master of fine arts degree from the University of Southern California School of Cinema and Television (now the School of Cinema Arts) and a bachelor’s degree in theatre from California State University, Northridge. He has won numerous awards for his work in computer visualization and design for television and theatre.

At Indiana, he was instrumental in securing an endowment from Sweetwater Sound, Inc. to support a new music technology program. He also opened an off-campus art gallery as part of the city’s urban redevelopment efforts. Under his leadership at the University of Nevada, the Nevada Conservatory Theatre became the most subscribed performing arts organization in Las Vegas, winning the “Best of Las Vegas” award in 2006.

While at UNL in the 1990s, O’Connor envisioned and formed a film and new media program implementing the early use of digital technology and interactive media. He served as the faculty liaison in the planning and design of the Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center and the renovated Temple Building, which houses the film and new media program.