Sculptor and longtime faculty member Ronald Leax, the Halsey C. Ives Professor Emeritus of Art, will receive the Dean’s Medal for outstanding service April 4 as part of the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts’ annual Awards for Distinction dinner.

This fall, one of the top programs for art, architecture and design at a U.S. university — the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis — will unveil two major new capital projects that will transform the campus, reshape the visitor experience and firmly establish the prominence of its art museum on campus. The newly constructed Anabeth and John Weil Hall will house state-of-the-art graduate studios, classrooms and digital fabrication spaces. A major expansion and renovation of the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum will strengthen visibility, better showcase the renowned permanent collection and accommodate larger and more varied special exhibitions.

Art schools are places of innovation and expression, of studio skills and critical analysis. But for many young artists, the transition to professional practice can be fraught. How do you start building a career? Opportunities for students like The MFA Fair this November help.

Junior Ruoyi Gan and senior Madeline Halpern are representing the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts in Varsity Art XXIII. Hosted by Art St. Louis, the annual exhibition features work by undergraduate and graduate students from St. Louis college and university-level art programs.

Amy Hauft, the Leslie Waggener Professor in Sculpture at the University of Texas at Austin, has been appointed director of the College & Graduate School of Art in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis. Also joining the Sam Fox School faculty will be sculptor Jack Risley, the Meredith and Cornelia long Chair of Art and Art History at UT Austin.

The Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum is now accepting proposals for the fall 2019 Teaching Gallery exhibition. The gallery is a space dedicated to exhibiting works from the museum with ties to university courses. The deadline for faculty to submit proposals is March 1.

Tim Portlock, associate professor in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis, has won a 2019 Artists Fellowship from the Regional Arts Commission. Two alumni, Margaret Keller (MFA ‘89) and William Morris (BFA ‘85), are also among the honorees.

Bob Smith was a Renaissance man — a talented painter, designer and bookmaker who trained generations of students while earning national renown for his sculptural fountain designs. In “Robert C. Smith: An Eclectic Studio & A Remarkable Career,” the Sam Fox School will showcase more than 100 works by the longtime professor, who died last fall at the age of 92.

Carmon Colangelo, the Ralph J. Nagel Dean of the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts and E. Desmond Lee Professor for Collaboration in the Arts at Washington University in St. Louis, will present “Infinite Abstraction,” an exhibition of new printed paintings, at the Bruno David Gallery beginning Jan. 24.

James (Jim) C. Fetterman, senior lecturer in landscape architecture at the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis, died at home Jan. 19, 2019. He was 68.