After decades as a writer/director in both film and television, Dean spent the last 15 years as a Professor of Communication Arts and Film Studies at Mount Saint Mary College, and served as the Director of the Communication, Art and Digital Media Program. At the end of the Spring term,  2022 Dean left the academic world to focus on his current and future work, that of a photographer and writer. Currently, an artist member of the Woodstock Art Association and Museum (WAAM), Dean has exhibited his work in a number of galleries across the Hudson Valley. As a writer of film theory and criticism his work has been published in “Film International Journal” and “Student Filmmakers,” among others; his pieces on Nicholas Roeg and The Maysles Brothers have been frequently cited in academic journals. Dean’s poetry has been published in “The Chronogram” and “Albany”  magazine and his fiction is published by Hudson Valley Writers Guild.

Dean’s Kristallnacht installation debuted in May 2022 and Dean’s first solo show in the Hudson Valley. Part of his “Framing History” series, Dean has created a fictional scene that takes place around the time of the “Night of the broken Glass.” Kristallnacht will celebrate the 85th anniversary at in November 2023 at the Mildred Washington Gallery on the campus of Dutchess Community College.