Michael Prater
Associate Professor of Art Education
Michael Prater teaches Visual Art Education for undergraduates and graduates, as well as drawing and art appreciation. He has a B.A. in Graphic Design from Missouri Southern State College, an M.A. in Studio Arts with emphases in Drawing, Painting, and Ceramics from Pittsburg State University, and a Ph.D. in Fine Arts with an emphasis in Visual Arts Education from Texas Tech University. Michael originally came to Ball State University in 1995 as a contract faculty to teach art appreciation courses. But in 1996, he accepted the tenure-track position in Visual Arts Education and was tenured in 2004. Over the years he has taught the full range of Art Education courses, but currently he primarily teaches the AED 201 Introduction to Art Education course, the AED 399 Secondary Methods in Art Education course, the ART 601 Teaching Studio Art graduate seminar, and the ART 290 Basic Art Media and Techniques course for non-majors.
Michael serves as the associate director for the School of Art, and has held this position for the last eight years. He has won multiple Ball State University awards for teaching and in 2014 was awarded the Ball State University Excellence in Teaching (EXIT) Award for innovative teaching.
His research as an art educator deals primarily with practical teaching strategies in support of the Discipline-Based Art Education curriculum model. His classroom methods for teaching studio art, art criticism and aesthetics have been published in nationally published journals such as School Arts and Art Education.
As an artist, Michael works primarily with charcoals on paper, and for the last few years has been involved in a series of images that bring together his interests in drawing the figure, antique photography, and the early days of science fiction.