Lionel Popkin is no stranger to calling the shots on stage.
And Popkin, a choreographer and faculty member at UCLA for 20 years, will soon officially step onto his biggest one yet: dean of the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture.
Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Darnell Hunt announced Popkin’s appointment in an April 7 email to university leadership, as well as faculty and students in the School of the Arts and Architecture. Popkin – who has been a UCLA faculty member since 2006 – has served as the school’s interim dean since February 2024 and as its associate dean for academic affairs from 2021 to 2024.
Popkin – who was previously a professor of choreography and the chair of the Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance – said he has stayed at UCLA for 20 years because of the people, who he described as amazing.
Popkin was previously a member of the Trisha Brown Dance Company, performing on stages like the Paris Opera House and New York’s Lincoln Center. His choreography has also been featured in performances at the Danspace Project in New York and the Getty Center.
The belief that art can change the world is embedded in every department and unit in UCLA’s School of the Arts and Architecture, he added.
“We’re a school that community engagement, access, social justice, social activism and art making is knitted into our fabric,” Popkin said. “That’s who we are, no matter what somebody else wants to call it, that’s who we are. That’s the way we approach the world. We’re thinking about how art moves through society and can make society better.”
Popkin said he is aware of UCLA’s current budgetary constraints, though he is not anticipating program cuts at the School of the Arts and Architecture specifically. He added, though, that he believes artists are uniquely resourceful and have historically overcome financial challenges.
“We’re just going to do what artists do – be lean and facile and live it as we need to,” he said. “Artists are no stranger to strange circumstances.”
[Related: UCLA Budget Cuts 2026]
David Gere, a professor in the WAC/D department who has taught at UCLA for 32 years, said in a written statement that he believes Popkin will be able to take on any challenge that comes his way because he has seen UCLA through high and low points.
“He has lived through flush periods when UCLA boasted abundant resources and other periods when UCLA didn’t,” Gere said in the statement. “Lionel knows how to make the most of the current moment.”
Victoria Marks, a professor in the WAC/D department since 1995, said Popkin has advocated for the arts to the UCLA administration.
Rebekah Kowal, a professor in the WAC/D department, said Popkin is an active listener who authentically responds to the ideas of those around him. Kowall added that Popkin led the art school and the WAC/D department through unstable times, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2024 Palestine solidarity encampment, which led to class cancellations and shifts to remote instruction.
“His training as a dancer and choreographer has really prepared him for a genuine responsiveness and a warmth that is really compelling as a leader,” she said.
Bryonn Bain, a professor of the WAC/D department and the co-director of the Center for Justice under the UCLA Prison Education Program, said Popkin’s creative nature and wisdom will help him improve the School of the Arts and Architecture.
“An important part of who he is is his ability to see that the way things have been done should inform how we do them now, but it shouldn’t limit or shackle the way we do things,” Bain said. “The experiences that he had in his life and his work at UCLA have helped to give him that kind of global and intersectional perspective that is essential to be effective as leader of a school of the arts.”
Popkin said choreography has led him to collaborate with different kinds of artists, such as music composers and lighting designers. He added that his choreography career taught him the importance of trust and respect for others’ work.
Popkin said his main goal is to raise awareness about the work conducted by students and faculty in the School of the Arts and Architecture to the rest of the UCLA community.
“The experience of the arts for the average person on campus isn’t nearly as embedded as it could be, or as intentional as it could be,” Popkin said. “If you acknowledge the value of the arts more vocally, with more attention to it, it becomes a part of the UCLA experience and embedded in what it means to be at UCLA.”
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