Dr. Ahran Koo is an Associate Professor of Art Education at California State University, Fresno.
As an artist and art educator, she promotes the efficacy of art to address cultural
and social awareness. Locally and globally, she focuses on community art and critical
multiculturalism, encourages interdisciplinary collaboration through social engagement,
and advocates culturally responsive/sustaining pedagogy.
Her research and teaching expertise include: community art; visual storying; art-based
research; digital narrative; critical multiculturalism; and participatory action research.
She has taught art at all levels, K-Higher Education, in USA, South Korea, The Philippines,
China, Russia, and Peru. She has also exhibited her artworks including painting, drawing,
printmaking, sculpture, and installation for twenty years.
Dr. Koo has published numerous books, peer-reviewed journals, and book chapters in
the most prominent journals and publishers in the field such as Studies in Art Education, Routledge, and International Society for Education through Art publication. She is the recipient of distinguished national and international awards,
grants, and scholarships recognizing her scholarly and community engaged works such
as National Art Education Association’s Pacific Region Higher Education Art Educator
Award, Albert Schweitzer fellowship, California Humanities and National Endowment
for Humanities Grant, National Art Education Foundation Research Grants, National
Art Education Association’s Mary Rouse Award, Barbara & Sheldon Pinchuk Arts Community Outreach Grant, and Michael B. Salwen Scholarship.
Her professional service includes working as a President of Asian Faculty and Staff
Association (AFSA) at Fresno State and an Executive Committee of Committee on Multiethnic
Concerns, Asian Art and Cultural Interest Group, and Coalition for Feminisms in Art
Education special interest groups of NAEA, and serving on the review panels and journal
editorial boards for AERA, NAEA, and InSEA.
Dr. Koo received PhD in Arts Administration, Education and Policy from The Ohio State
University; MA in Art Education from University of Florida; MFA and BFA in Korean
Painting from Ewha Womans University in Seoul, Korea.
Visual Culture and Identity; Culturally Responsive/Sustaining Pedagogy; Critical Multiculturalism;
Critical Theory; Arts-Based Research; Community-Based Art; Service-Learning; Participatory
Action Research; Digital Narratives; Art and Technologies; Narrative Inquiry; Community
Outreach; Social Justice and Equity; Globalization and Educational Leadership