My name is Ken Curtis and I used to live and work in Dubai, UAE as a professor of visual communications at the American University in Dubai. I taught graphic design, Web design, and all the software that the students will need to accomplish both. I left Dubai to travel through Asia for a few years and now I'm in the process of heading back to the US.

My Biography: I was born in New Jersey and raised in Portland, Oregon until I enlisted in the US Air Force at eighteen and got married to a great girl at nineteen. The Air Force stationed me in Clovis, NM and my wife and i stayed there until my four years were completed. From Clovis, we moved back to Portland and in a few years were divorced. For about eight years after my wife and I split, I spent my time in Portland just trying to figure out what I wanted from life and more importantly how do I attain it. That really was the hardest question, because I knew that I wanted to get a college degree, but I really didn't understand how to do it. In the end I decided not to "think" about it and to make a decision, any decision, and to stick by it. I decided to sell my house to pay for my degree in graphic design. It was a defining moment, because I don't think I had one person say that it was a good idea. In fact if I remember it correctly people told me I was being silly, stupid, or naive. The reasons varied, but it seemed that I was just plain wrong about a degree. Like I said I believe at this point I started to understand myself, because I put my head down and pushed forward with my plans.

I moved back to New Mexico to go to Eastern New Mexico University. It took me three quick years to get my degree in graphic design and a minor in computer animation. More importantly, I can honestly say that it was the first time in my life that I felt like I was home. I still consider it home now, even though I haven't lived in NM since 2004. Once I graduated I was preparing for grad school and one of the profs at ENMU quit, I volunteered to help out and was hired as adjunct faculty. Like I said, I loved NM, the weather was great, but most of all, the people are the best. How many recently graduated students get to teach right after they graduate? I taught at ENMU for four years.

In 2005 the time had come to get my MFA so I could actually become a professor. This decision was based on the statement that a friend made to me at lunch. She said, "An MFA really won't help your art that much, but it will open doors for you." She was so right, and I think it was the most important thing that anyone has ever said to me. So I moved to the nearest university that I could, and started in August 2005. In 2006 I earned an M. A. and in 2007 an M.FA in computer art with a minor in printmaking. Before I graduated, I was putting out applications around the world for teaching jobs, and in April was hired by AUD. In other words, probably the best "door" opened for me.

I received my MFA August 10, and left for Dubai August 17 and have been here since. I've wanted to travel for a while, and because of that, I wanted to be in a central location and Dubai has been perfect. Since I've been here, I've traveled to over fifty-five countries and have seen and done things that I never dreamed I would get a chance of seeing. Red Square, The Great Wall, Hagia Sofia, riding camels in Mongolia, sipping beer in an open-air cafe in Hanoi, and the list goes on, wandering through Petra, safari through Kenya, volunteering in Sri Lanka, and okay, that's enough. To think that I owe most of this to one person telling me that an MFA will open doors. Thank you Mic, you changed my life!

The Present: After spending an additional five years in Asia after leaving Dubai, I decided that it was time that I get back to the US. It was a great experience living in the different cultures, but I was starting to miss the feeling of being 'home'. During the five years, I lived in Taiwan, Malaysia, and India, and now as I write this I'm in the US, and have been for the last two months.