Noted sculptor and UNC Asheville associate professor of art Dan Millspaugh holds a bachelor of fine arts in ceramics and a master of fine arts in sculpture from the University of Miami. He joined the UNC Asheville art department in 1981. In 1996 he received the UNC Board of Governors Award for Excellence in Teaching, and most recently was named the first recipient of UNC Asheville's Award for Excellence in Scholarship or Creative Expression.

Millspaugh has completed sculpture commissions for the city of Asheville, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, the UNC Botanical Garden in Chapel Hill and the Tennessee Valley Authority in Alabama. His works are on display in numerous corporate, public and private collections throughout the United States.