B Stephen Carpenter, II is dean of the College of Arts and Architecture and professor of Art Education and African American Studies at Penn State.  He is co-director of the Summer Institute on Contemporary Art (SICA), chief executive artist for Reservoir Studio, (an interdisciplinary research, development, and pedagogy collective); and codirector of the SoVA Studio for Sustainability and Social Action (S3A). Steve recently served as interim director of the School of Visual Arts.

His research interests include curriculum theory; professional development through art for preK-12 educators; public pedagogy, social engagement, and participatory art practices; critical art education studies; and the global water crisis as curriculum. His mixed-media assemblages, installations, and performance artworks confront and disrupt social, historical, cultural, and political constructs.

An author and co-author of book chapters and journal articles on art education, visual culture, and curriculum theory, Steve is co-author of Interdisciplinary Approaches to Teaching Art in High School (with Pamela G. Taylor, Christine Ballengee Morris, and Billie Sessions; 2006), and co-editor of Curriculum for a Progressive, Provocative, Poetic, and Public Pedagogy (with Jennifer Milam, Stephanie Springgay, and Kris Sloan; 2006), Professional Development in Art Museums: Strategies of Engagement Through Contemporary Art (with Dana Carlisle Kletchka; 2018), and The Palgrave Handbook of Race and the Arts in Education (with Amelia (Amy) Kraehe and Rubén Gaztambide Fernandez; 2018). He is a past senior editor of Studies in Art Education (2017-2019), a past co-editor of the Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy (2010-2013) and a past editor of Art Education (2004-2006).