David Van Dommelen papers

David B. Van Dommelen was born on 21 August 1929 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He first came to Penn State in 1959 as an instructor in home art and then spent two years at the University of Maine as an assistant professor of design. He returned to Penn State in 1964 and joined the staff of the College of Home Economics as an assistant professor of family housing and home art; he was promoted to associate professor in 1966. In 1973 he was appointed associate professor of art education in the College of Education. Dommelen was instrumental in planning the Unified Art program in the Centreville School District in the 1960s. The Unified Art program was one of the first such programs which integrated home economics, art, and industrial art with traditional subjects such as mathematics, history, and English in Centreville's two middle schools. He was a member of the American Craftsmens Council, the New England Crafts Council, and the American Home Economics Association. He served as art consultant for John Wiley Publishers and as craft consultant for McCalls Needle Work and Crafts Magazine. He retired in 1987 as professor emeritus of art education and fiber arts.