MARION – Indiana Wesleyan University (IWU) is honored to announce Henrik Söderström as a recipient of the Ardelia Williams Professorship in Visual Arts. Söderström has served as a full-time professor in IWU’s Division of Art + Design for the past 11 years, where he has been nominated twice for the Outstanding Teaching and Mentoring Award. His proven record of excellence in both teaching and scholarship makes him an ideal fit for this academic distinction.
“Professor Söderström is a highly talented artist and art educator who is deeply committed to preparing young artists and designers for a life of creative flourishing that honors their unique God-given gifts,” says Dr. Anne Greeley, chair of the Division of Art + Design. “Since joining the faculty at IWU, he has contributed immeasurably to the Art + Design division, from his reimagining of our Foundations curriculum to his recent vision casting for new studio programs. He has served the greater Marion community in significant ways as well through his sustained involvement and leadership in public art initiatives. His ever-kind, joyful and gracious spirit has been a tremendous blessing to colleagues and students throughout his tenure at IWU. He wholly deserves his appointment to the Ardelia Williams Professorship, and we’re delighted to see him honored in this way.”
The Ardelia Williams Professorship in Visual Arts honors the legacy of longtime IWU art faculty Ardelia Williams, who served in the university’s Division of Art + Design for 35 years. Williams was instrumental in the revival of IWU’s art department, growing it from a single student to 40 in her first six years as professor. Because of Williams’s dedication, the university now boasts six studio art majors and minors.
“From my first week as a member of the faculty at IWU, I remember hearing these amazing stories about a Professor Emeritus named Ardelia Williams – teaching life-changing stained glass and weaving classes in a tiny schoolhouse on the edge of campus, secretly paying a student’s tuition bill in a moment of need and founding the Art + Design division with a depth of intercession and devotion to the Lord that was still tangible decades later,” Söderström says. “I can hardly overstate what an honor it is to be in any way connected to Ardelia Williams’s name and legacy at IWU, and I feel grateful to work alongside a group of art and design colleagues who so fervently follow the pattern of devotion to Jesus in artistry that she founded our division with.”
Söderström received his BFA at Rhode Island School of Design and his MFA at Rochester Institute of Technology. As a professor in IWU’s Division of Art + Design, he currently serves as coordinator of the Foundations program and coordinator of the Design for Social Impact program. To learn more about IWU’s Division of Art + Design, visit iwuart.com.
