Kansas City Art Institute

Tony Jones ᴄʙᴇ joined KCAI in December 2014. He is an internationally known arts administrator, broadcaster, educator, exhibition curator and historian of art, architecture and design, as well as a consultant on higher education and the arts. A citizen of both Britain and the United States, he was educated at Goldsmith’s College in London and the Newport College of Art in Wales as a sculptor, painter and art historian. He came to the United States for postgraduate study as a Fulbright Scholar. Professor Jones served as Director of the renowned Glasgow School of Art in Scotland and was appointed President of America’s top-ranked School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) in 1986, serving in that capacity until 1991, when he took a position as director of the Royal College of Art in London. He returned to SAIC in 1996 and served as president until 2012 when he was named chancellor and president-emeritus.

Conferred the title Commander of the British Empire by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth in 2003, Jones holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from Tulane University in New Orleans, six honorary doctorates and an array of international honors. He was conferred the Austrian Knight’s Cross for services to education in Europe, elected an honorary member of the American Institute of Architects and received the Distinguished Service Award of the American Lawyers for the Arts. He is a former two-term national chairman of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design, a consortium of which KCAI is a member. In 2011, a historic landmark building in downtown Chicago was named Jones Hall in his honor.

In addition to numerous books and articles, Jones has scripted and hosted several television series and radio programs for the BBC. Jones is also president of the Sir James Dyson Educational Foundation in America, co-chair of the Royal College of Art Foundation and international ambassador of the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts (“Young Arts Miami”).

Bambi Burgard joined KCAI in 2000 as assistant dean for academic affairs and director of the academic resource center. In 2006, she became associate vice president for student achievement; from 2008 to 2010 she served the college as interim vice president for enrollment management; in 2010 she was promoted to vice president for enrollment management and student achievement; and later that year, she was named vice president for academic affairs. Before coming to KCAI, she worked in the student counseling center at University of Missouri-Kansas City and in private practice. Burgard earned her doctorate in counseling psychology from University of Missouri-Kansas City and is a licensed psychologist in Missouri and Kansas.

First-time Freshmen Territories: St. Louis, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan
Transfer Student Territories: Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Kentucky, Wisconsin

Contact Information: ddeal@kcai.edu or (816) 982-5344

Gina Golba joined KCAI in 2006 as director of student affairs. In 2012, she was promoted to dean of students. She currently holds the position of dean of student affairs, working with registration, academic and career advising, disabilities and academic support, as well as student life. She earned a bachelor’s degree at Pittsburg State University and a master’s degree in higher education administration from Kansas State University. She has 15 years of experience in student affairs, including participation in a number of professional organizations, including NACA, ASCA and AICAD.  Prior to joining KCAI, she held positions at Southwestern College and Kansas State University.

Brian Henke, who joined KCAI in May 2020, works closely with KCAI’s Board of Trustees and serve as liaison to the Facilities, Finance & Audit, Investments and Retirement Plan Committees. Henke has over 20 years of nonprofit management experience, most recently as the Director of Operations at the Kauffman Foundation where he oversaw the operation of the Kauffman Foundation Conference Center and managed multi-million dollar budgets for the
Foundation’s many areas of focus. Henke also led the Kauffman Scholars Program where he performed budget oversight for more than 1,000 individual scholars and built a network of postsecondary institutions, working closely with their Admissions, Student Life and Financial Aid departments. Brian has also served as the lead on many facility-related projects, working closely with architects and contractors and managed building renovations.

Emily Hess joined KCAI in 2013 from the Pembroke Hill School, where she was the director of annual giving and stewardship. Previously, she was at a small non-profit in Kansas from 2010-2011 as a development officer specializing in planned giving. From 2006-2010, Hess clerked for the probate judge of Jackson County, Missouri and was a practicing attorney in the area of Estates and Trusts at a Kansas City law firm. She holds a bachelor of arts degree in art history from the University of Kansas and a juris doctor from the University of Missouri-Kansas City.​

Dr. Milton Katz teaches classes in American history and literature, the Holocaust, and peace and conflict resolution. He is the author of three books, and over two dozen articles, book chapters, essays and reviews on peace and social justice movements in contemporary American history. He has also presented lectures on art of the Holocaust in educational, community, and religious institutions throughout the United States and Europe. Dr. Katz has been the recipient of numerous grants and awards from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Missouri and Kansas Humanities Councils, and the Mellon and Fulbright Foundations. In 1998, he received the Kansas City Art Institute’s Special Project Award, the Excellence in Teaching Award in 2001, and, in 2007, the Distinguished Achievement Award. In 2008, he received the prestigious William Rockhill Nelson Award for Literary Excellence by Missouri and Kansas authors in non-fiction for his book Breaking Through: John B. McLendon, Basketball Legend and Civil Rights Pioneer.

As a social historian, Dr. Katz’s biography of the first African American basketball coach inducted in the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame, sheds a powerful light on how sports have been one of the primary mediums for breaking down racial barriers in American society, and has inspired three documentary films on ESPN, PBS, and most recently in 2021 on CBS. The link to this latest one is below.

John McLendon Documentary

Nicolle Ratliff joined the Kansas City Art Institute in 2012, where she enthusiastically works on behalf of the next generation of great artists and designers. She spent ten years working in development at art museums, including at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Prior to that she was director of public relations for the American Red Cross in New Orleans, LA. Nicolle currently serves on the Board of Nonprofit Connect and the Center for Architecture and Design. She was a member of the 2012 KC Chamber’s Centurions Class and graduated cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Kansas.