Beth S. Wright has been named dean of the College of Liberal Arts. A professor of art history, she had served as interim dean since August 2003.

A member of the UTA faculty since 1981, Dr. Wright earned her bachelor's degree from Brandeis University and master's and Ph.D. degrees from the University of California at Berkeley. Her research focuses on French art of the 18th and 19th centuries in its cultural context, particularly its relationship to literature.

Her first book, Painting and History during the French Restoration: Abandoned by the Past, received UTA's Outstanding Research Achievement Award and the Vasari Award from the Dallas Museum of Art for most outstanding publication by an art historian working in Texas. Organizations that have supported her research include the College Art Association and the National Endowment for the Humanities.