Greetings from the Art History Program. We have had a wonderful year and, once again, I have the privilege of sharing with you some recent accomplishments and some big changes. As always, it is the support of our current and past students that helps make all this work possible. Despite recent budget cuts, we are doing our best to continue growing the program and bring our students another exciting year of courses and opportunities.
One of the biggest changes is the departure of Dr. Margaret Richardson, who accepted a tenure line job at Marshall University in West Virginia. We are sorry to see her go and wish her all the best in her new job.
Dr. Richardson’s move allowed us to hire Dr. Nicole De Armendi, a specialist on contemporary art. She has written extensively on the art of the 1960s and 1970s. Needless to say, she is remarkably well-qualified to teach our popular Art Now courses and is hard at work developing a whole range of new course offerings. We are thrilled that she has joined the department.
Professor Ellen Todd and I have returned from a semester of research leave. We have been hard at work on new and continuing research projects. To find out some of the specifics regarding our research, check out the Faculty News section on pages 3 and 4. Or, as always, feel free to ask us about our work.
As if all this wasn’t enough, we have one last major development to announce. The Mason Art History program has officially partnered with the Smithsonian Institution to offer a new master’s degree program in the history of the decorative arts. The degree builds on an existing program that the Smithsonian has developed over several years. This fantastic opportunity will provide a host of new course options for our master’s students on a limited basis. I look forward to sharing more about this exciting program in the future.
I usually end these letters with an invitation to our annual Visual Voices lecture series. These lectures are cosponsored by the Art History program and the School of Art. Past speakers include Suzanne Hudson, who spoke on Contemporary Art 1989 to the Present. No tickets necessary. We hope to see you at an upcoming lecture. For the series schedule, please visit soa.gmu.edu/pages/exhibitions/lectureseries.hmtl.
Robert DeCaroli
Director, Art History Program