The Ohio State University’s new Lawrence and Isabel Barnett Center for Integrated Arts and Enterprise, within the College of Arts and Sciences, has named Sonia BasSheva Manjon as its inaugural director. The Barnett Center will educate and prepare students for successful careers in the arts and related entrepreneurial fields, advancing their understanding of the business side of the arts and worlds of arts management, policy, and culture. It will be a collaborative venture, working closely with multiple departments within the College of Arts and Sciences, along with the Fisher College of Business, Moritz College of Law, and Ohio State’s Career Network. An advisory committee, the Barnett Center Ambassadors, will be created.

The center’s creation was announced in early 2012, funded by a generous donation from Ohio State alumnus and entertainment industry leader, the late Lawrence Barnett and his wife Isabel. The Barnett Center is being constructed in Sullivant Hall, which is undergoing extensive renovations, and will open after the first of the year, according to Mark Shanda, divisional dean, arts and humanities, College of Arts and Sciences.

Manjon, who also serves as an associate professor in the Department of Arts Administration, Education and Policy, most recently was vice president for institutional partnerships, chief diversity officer, and visiting associate professor of theatre at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. At Ohio State, she is working with both undergraduate and graduate students interested in arts management, entrepreneurship, community collaborations, institutional partnerships, community arts, and civic engagement programs.

She also is creating a student think tank that will work with professional artists and arts organizations to examine non-profit and profit organizational and management structures. A nationally prominent a cappella ensemble, celebrating its 40^th anniversary, will serve as the group’s initial case study.

Completion of Sullivant Hall renovations is expected by December, with the Barnett Center opening there in January 2014. The building also will house the Department of Arts Administration, Education and Policy; Department of Dance; the Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design (ACCAD); and the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum.