June 19, 2026
Stephen Halko brings practicing artist's eye to dean's role leading Ferris State’s Kendall College of Art and Design
Stephen Halko has spent 17 years at Ferris State’s Kendall College of Art and Design learning because, as he puts it, nothing is ever finished.
Halko is the new dean at KCAD after serving in the role on an interim basis for about a year.
A Philadelphia-trained artist who joined KCAD's faculty in 2009, Halko rose through the ranks as Drawing program chair, vice president of the Kendall Faculty Association, and dean of Academic Affairs before stepping into the college's top role.
"I realized that my values and my beliefs as an artist and as a professor were very much in line with the program here," Halko said of his decision to come to Grand Rapids. "This is a place, a college where you come to learn how to make things — whether you're designing things, drawing things, painting things. The students here are led by faculty who really teach you how to produce, how to make things, and how to be a professional."
That mission, he said, hasn't changed.
"I wouldn't say we've changed as drastically as the world around us has," Halko said. "I think the world understands or values what it is that we do in a different way than in years past."
Halko's ascent to dean of academic affairs in 2021 came with immediate high-stakes obligations. In 2022, KCAD completed specialized accreditation renewals through three separate bodies: the National Association of Schools of Art and Design, the Council for Interior Design Accreditation, and the National Architectural Accrediting Board while Halko was still new to the role. He also contributed to Ferris State's successful reaffirmation through the Higher Learning Commission.
His assessment of the process is characteristically direct.
"If you really have great students, faculty and staff, along with great curriculum and great support from the university, you're just sharing the good news," Halko said. "It sells itself."
Halko holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Rochester Institute of Technology and a Master of Fine Arts from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. He remains a practicing artist — his work has appeared in solo and group exhibitions nationally and internationally, including a 2016 lecture tour and collaborative performance at the Shanghai Oil Painting and Sculpture Institute's SPSI Art Museum.
That practice, he said, directly informs how he leads.
"No work of art — when you go to a gallery, you don't see all of the effort, all of the failures, all of the things that didn't work," Halko said. "All you see is the very last thing that they want you to see. I think about that as an administrator. I don't look at anything as being done and finished. There's always room for improvement."
The mindset extends inward.
"From being an art student to being an artist to then getting in the classroom to teaching to now being an administrator, I'm always refining and thinking about the next iteration of myself," he said. "I thought people in my position had it all figured out. Now I'm an adult — I don't have it figured out. I just have more questions than before."
Halko's commitment to equity and inclusion runs well outside a dean's job description. He completed the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce Institute for Healing Racism and the Milton E. Ford LGBT Resource Center's LGBTQ Foundations Level IV leadership training. He served as an inaugural member of KCAD's President's Equity Council and volunteered more than 40 hours as a one-on-one English literacy coach at the Literacy Center of West Michigan, working with a refugee from Sudan.
"Language is that mediator — that's how you interact with people," Halko said. "I'm a lifelong learner. I love learning about other people. I bring that with me to work to try to make sure that everybody's identity has a place in this college."
He ties the work directly to what artists and designers do.
"At the core of what artists and designers do is their identity," he said. "They're designing products, spaces, objects — and they're necessarily lending their voice to that design. I owe it to them to know as much about identities that are different than mine."
Halko's appointment comes at a pivotal moment for the college. KCAD has been affiliated with Ferris State since the 2000-2001 academic year, but it became Ferris State’s art and design college last year.
The move will allow for some programs to be moved under KCAD, strengthening programs at both campuses.
"This is an opportunity so rare for a dean," Halko said. "Not just to accept what has been, but to really be in a position to take a look at what's needed and what comes next."
He said he enters the permanent role with gratitude and a clear sense of priority.
"I see my role here as one of students first, the faculty and staff, and then the larger university community," Halko said. "It's good work. It's worth doing."