The University of North Texas College of visual arts and Design has renamed The North Texas Institute for Educators on the Visual Arts (NTIEVA) as the “Jo Ann (Jody) and Dr. Charles O. Onstead Institute for Education in the Visual Arts and Design” after a $2.5 million gift from the Dr. Charles & Jo Ann Onstead Foundation. UNT educates about half of the state’s certified art teachers.
The institute was founded in 1990 by the Getty Education Institute to promite discipline-based art education in Dallas-fort Worth public elementary schools. In 1994 NTIEVA (now renamed!) established a National Center for Art Museum/School Collaborations focused on collaborative programming between art museums and schools.
The Institute also prepares free curriculum resource materials making them available to teachers through its newsletter and website. Most recently the Institute has collaborated with the Center for the Advancement and Study of Early Texas art to develop classroom materials based upon the work of early Texas artists.
Both Charles and Jo Ann “Jody” Onstead are UNT Alumni. Jody graduated in 1944 with a bachelor’s degree in elementary education. Charles graduated with a political science degree in 1947 after serving in World War II.
