As an interdisciplinary artist/designer, creative entrepreneur/consultant, educator, and arts administrator from the DC, Maryland, and Northern Virginia (DMV) region and veteran of Operation Desert Storm and the Gulf War, Dr. Tony McEachern brings to MICA over 30 years of professional experience. He has worked in the creative industry as a traditional and digital designer, illustrator, photographer, videographer, copywriter, art director/creative director, and marketing communications director winning major awards across diverse platforms for organizations and institutions such as the University of Maryland College Park; the National Institutes of Health; US Department of Veterans Affairs; the Government of the District of Columbia; the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce; Washingtonian Magazine, and August, Lang & Husak, Inc. Advertising Agency. As an arts educator, he established national strategic partnerships in the arts between his academic institutions and major corporations such as Disney, ESPN, General Motors, 3M, the Steven Tanger Center for the Performing Arts, High Point Theatre, Fender Music, the NBA, and Nike. He served on the Board of Directors of both, the Classic Theatre of Maryland, formerly called the Annapolis Shakespeare Company, and the American Advertising Federation’s DC Ad Club.

Prior to joining the MICA family, Dr. McEachern served as faculty and administrator to five institutions of higher education. He served as the Director of Marketing and Creative Services in the Division of Student Affairs at the University of Maryland, College Park. He earned tenure at two different universities, first at Howard University as Associate Professor serving as chair of the Department of Art and Director of the MA/MFA Graduate Program, and second at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University as Full Professor serving as chair of the department of Visual and Performing Arts. He was the Assistant Dean for Visual and Performing Arts and World Languages at Anne Arundel Community College, and the Associate Dean for the School of Arts and Social Sciences at Baltimore City Community College.

As an arts administrator, McEachern was the inaugural Co-Director of the Chair Leadership Academy at Howard University, developing academic and administrative excellence in department chairs and associate deans across the campus. He was also Chair of the Coordinating Committee that led the establishment of the Center for Excellence in Teaching, Learning, and Innovation at Baltimore City Community College. And while working at three other institutions of higher education in the state of Maryland and one in the District of Columbia, McEachern has shown an expertise in assessment and accreditation, successfully guiding institutions through the standards established by the regional accrediting agency Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE), the Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC), and the Code of Maryland Regulations (COMAR). Furthermore, McEachern was the Visual and Performing Arts Executive for three institutions of higher education in two different regions, representing the upholding of national program accreditation standards and quality as guided by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD), the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM), and the National Association of Schools of Theatre (NAST), even serving as an accreditation evaluator for NASAD from 2016 through 2019.

 Dr. McEachern is a three-time graduate of Howard University, sequentially earning the BFA in Studio Art, concentrating in Electronic Studio Art (Digital Media Art), the MFA in Design, and the PhD in Communication: Mass Communication and Media Studies. He also pursued an MBA from the University of Maryland College Park.