Delma Hall: Portrait of an Ada Arts Director

Sitting at her desk in Danley Hall, Delma Hall, assistant vice president of academic affairs and director of fine arts at East Central University, smooths her hair briefly, perhaps subconsciously. She sits up straight in her chair, and there are no visible creases on her suit. Her laugh comes easily. Her demeanor is pleasant and charming, and she carries herself with both a gentle calm and a strong confidence. Her humble and inviting attitude are enough to put most anyone at ease. As a sort of adviser to the roughly 4,000 students at East Central, her professional yet agreeable presentation is invaluable.

Although Hall grew up on a farm in rural Oklahoma, and currently wears several hats at a university in a small Oklahoma town, she has not lived a stationary life. After graduating college with an English degree and almost enough credits for a degree in speech/theater, she moved to Heidelberg, Germany, where she taught at a high school for American students. Around that time she toured Europe with her husband, indulging her passion for travel. She returned to the United States a few years later, and after teaching English at a high school in New Mexico, she returned to Ada to teach at East Central while also finishing a doctorate in theater.

Since beginning her career in teaching and leadership at the university level, she has fulfilled many roles. As a teacher she started part-time and moved up to department chair of communication and associate professor. Her teaching was put on hold after getting her current position in academic affairs. For six months she was dean of the school of business, and later picked up the role of director of fine arts.

Despite her multiple positions at ECU over the years, Hall said that, first and foremost, she is a teacher.

“The classroom is always my favorite,” she said.

Many students would agree that Hall is a natural teacher. She received 13 reviews on RateMyProfessors.com, a Web site on which college students can post public evaluations of their professors. Only two reviews were negative, and she received nearly perfect scores on clarity, helpfulness and overall quality.

“Everything about her is perfect,” one review stated. “Her look, her voice, her presence, you can’t take your eyes off of her and she knows exactly how to impact every individual in the room. She taught me so much.”

As assistant vice president of academic affairs, Hall said that her main responsibilities involve taking care of students and any issues they have with the academic system.

“I try to resolve their issues,” she said. “Sometimes it’s with faculty members, and sometimes it’s that they’ve gotten themselves in trouble. I try to help them as much as I can.”

Another part of her job includes faculty evaluations, which, she said, has been valuable in helping her to become familiar with both faculty and students on campus.

As director of fine arts, Hall said that much of her work at this point is “strategic planning” regarding the direction of the school of fine arts. This includes plans for activities, management of the program’s inner workings and organization of the building itself.

“We’re a brand new school. This is our first year and it’s very exciting,” she said. “We’re trying to find our way through, and what it is that we’re trying to accomplish now that we are a school of fine arts. We also look at the programs and how they can become very effective, very collaborative.”

Hall mentioned that her most desired expectations for the new school are mainly focused on getting students actively involved, pushing creativity to the maximum level.

“I would just like to see it full and overflowing all the time,” she said. “I’d like to see the programs grow, because the facility is so phenomenal. I want there to be activities going on there all the time. I want something in the art gallery with students showing their work. I want something in the theater with kids showing their work. I want music and performing – kids doing their art thing – because that is the most exciting thing about it. That building should be vibrating on its foundation at all times with creativity.”

Hall has had a lifelong love affair with the arts, she said. Theater is her favorite medium and she feels most at home on stage, in one form or another. She revealed that she cannot choose any one project in which she has participated as a favorite, and so she usually considers it to be whichever one she has done most recently. However, despite her focus on theater, she made it clear that all arts are important to her.

“To me, the arts are breath,” she explained with much zeal apparent in her voice. “Creativity, to me, is such a part of who I am. I can’t imagine that the world would be a very nice place if we didn’t have the arts. I believe that they create the beauty in it, and they make comments about life that I don’t think we can make any other way.”

She listed Dorothy Summers, the late ECU theater professor, as her biggest influence. Hall said that she was taught by Summers in her undergraduate studies, and that she was an expert at knowing “how to possess a classroom.” Appropriately, this statement bears a strong resemblance to the praises given to Hall on RateMyProfessors.com, as mentioned above.

She mentioned that the most challenging part of her career so far is “finding time to do everything.”

“Being involved in theater, time is always the challenge when you’re trying to get everything done,” she said.

Hall stated that she is progressively focused, looking forward to the future and evolution of the university, especially the fine arts program. And although her role of helping students is important to her, on a personal level she also hopes to continue to explore her love of travel – perhaps when she finally does find time to do everything.

By Cynthia Mellon