As a longtime professor and associate dean of the Rosa Deal School of the Arts, Nick Peña is helping to build the next generation of artists and graphic designers.

“Every time I meet a new freshman class, I’m ecstatic about the possibilities,” he said.

During Peña’s tenure, the Visual and Performing Arts Department has grown—both in the number of students pursuing arts majors and in available programs and opportunities. With support from leadership and his colleagues, he introduced the graphic design concentration, opened the Innovation Lab, and launched summer art camps for elementary and middle school students.

Peña is a trained visual artist with a bachelor of fine arts (BFA) from Southern Illinois University – Carbondale and a master of fine arts (MFA) from the University of Missouri – Columbia. He has an extensive exhibition record and numerous honors and publications. His work often draws on America’s contrasts, such as past and present, representation and abstraction, analog and digital, and stability and instability.

When Peña and his now-wife, also a visual artist, moved to Memphis in 2007, he worked as an ocularist, creating prosthetic eyes and occasionally making maxillofacial prosthetics, such as ears or noses, for patients.

The work was rewarding and solidified Peña’s inherent understanding that art is everywhere in every day life, every sector and field, but he missed the energy and community present in university life. 

In 2010, he joined CBU as a visiting assistant professor, advancing to chair of the department in 2021 and interim associate dean in June 2024.

Watching new students arrive each year, adjust, and develop into confident upperclassmen, following the tenets of living Lasallian, is one of the true joys of teaching at CBU, said Peña.

“As professors, we have a unique perspective,” he said. “The students know they are smart and capable, but they are in a new environment. They may have deficiencies in time management. They may struggle to balance freedom with the rigors of academics. We first see them when they are a little off balance. Then, as juniors and seniors, we see their confidence and academic prowess. All start to align, and they are thriving.”  

Peña also thinks about how he and his colleagues can contribute to CBU’s long-term success and well-being. Knowing that college recruitment starts well before students are filling out applications, he helped to establish art camps this past summer for students in grades 3-8 and has plans to expand in 2026.

“Through our summer program, we wanted to provide experiences for aspiring artists, build community presence, and strengthen alumni ties,” Peña said. “We want the art camps to be touchpoints for parents and future students. We haven’t targeted this age group before, and it was a challenge. But we’re academics; we understand how to build curriculum. Through the program, we were able to spread the joy of creating while promoting student curiosity, dexterity, and perception—all of the touchpoints of development.” 

Although his work at CBU takes much of his time, Peña does carve out time for other projects. He and his wife own Wonder | Cowork | Create LLC, a co-working community for creative freelancers, organizations and small businesses. And, he is working on pieces for his next show, scheduled to open April 2026 at the Carnegie Center for Arts and History in Jackson, TN.