Joseph Paul Cassar is Professor of Art and Graphic Communications at the University of Maryland Global Campus, U.S.A.  He has been engaged in designing online art courses for the university as well as for the New York Knowledge Network.

Prof. Cassar has lectured at the University of Malta for the Faculty of Education, Mediterranean Institute, Faculty of Theology and formed part of the Art Department with the Faculty of Arts where he lectured on the Modern and Contemporary period.  He is the author of several art books with a special focus on Maltese Modern artists and his books have won several prizes for their research.

Prof. Cassar served as a freelance art critic for The Daily News (1978-1981) and The Times of Malta (1997-2000) and formed part of the first board of governors for St James Cavalier Cultural Centre where he was responsible for the Visual Arts Programme, curating several exhibitions including the Victor, Wendy, John Pasmore exhibition with Marlborough Gallery London.  He also set up an Artist-in-Residence Programme and has offered advice to Heritage Malta in its expansion of the Modern and Contemporary Visual Arts Collection.

Currently he is a visiting professor to various other institutions namely at Johns Hopkins University, Towson University, Notre Dame University of Maryland, and York College of Pennsylvania.  He is invited to lecture in several museums including the Baltimore Museum of Art and the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore and at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C.

Cassar is also a practicing artist, had three residencies at St John’s International School, Waterloo, Belgium (1998), at Luther College Decorah, Iowa, U.S.A. (2001), and at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts U.S.A. (2003). He exhibits his works regularly in the Baltimore-Washington D.C. area and is represented by Y-Art Gallery. Cassar keeps Malta at heart, visits regularly and maintains a studio in Xemxija.  In 2009 Joseph Paul Cassar was awarded the gold medal from the Malta Society of Arts for his contribution to the arts in Malta.