Peg Faimon, the inaugural dean of the new School of Art, Architecture and Design, was keenly aware that October 8 marked her hundredth day in her post when she sat down to discuss the new school a few days later.

“I’ve been really pleased at how well I’ve gotten my footing,” Faimon says, from her new office in Kirkwood Hall, while workers continue to put the finishing touches on the renovation. “One of the things that I guess I should have known,” Faimon continues, “but that pleasantly surprised me was how easily I can connect to people when they realize I’m an alum. I just don’t have an uphill battle to become part of the family. I already am.”

Faimon graduated summa cum laude from IU in 1987 with a BFA in graphic design before receiving an MFA from Yale. She was one of four finalists (and the only alumni) for the position of the dean of the new school formed by the merger of the Department of Studio Art and the Department of Apparel Merchandising and Interior Design, including various centers. She came to IU from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where she was the chair of the Department of Art.

She has already met individually with every single faculty and staff member of the new school. “It was a lot of meetings—sometimes two or three a day,” she says. “But I’m really glad I did it. Some of these folks have been here a long time and they have accomplished much. I want to be sure I respect the foundation they’ve already laid.” She now has an entire notebook full of their ideas. “I was struck that all the people I talked to are really in alignment on a lot of things,” Faimon says.

Faimon wants to spin out connections even further: to regional campuses, such as the Herron School of Art in Indianapolis, for instance. And she wants the school to forge even stronger connections to regional communities, such as Columbus, through the school’s IU Center for Art and Design.

As an alum, she is keenly sensitive to strengthening those ties, too. She has already held an alumni reception in Chicago and will hold another in New York City next spring.

And, of course, she is also focusing on her own family connections. Because her youngest is a high-school senior, part of her family has remained in Ohio to finish up. Faimon and her husband have already bought a house in Bloomington, where he will join her next year.