News
Recent Undergraduate Student Achievements
2007-2008
Undergraduate Symposium
Every year, Case Western Reserve University sponsors an undergraduate art history symposium. This year, students presented their research from institutions as far afield as Columbia University, University of South Carolina, and the University of Kansas. The University of Pittsburgh had more student representatives at this conference than any other institution as three papers were selected, two of them from History of Art and Architecture majors. Cory Rice delivered the results of research he's conducted this year with Leanne Gilbertson and Josh Ellenbogen, “Gendering the Artist: Andy Warhol and Marcel Duchamp.” Kara Snitger presented a portion of her paper, “The Faces of Berlin: Interpretations of the Communicative Architectural Facade,” which she wrote in an Approaches to Art History seminar with Gretchen Bender. A Film Studies major, Stephen Grebinski, was the third Pitt student representative, presenting his work, “Convenient Histories: Josef Stalin and the Soviet Myth of Creation.”
Carnegie Training Program
Several History of Art and Architecture majors were selected to participate in the University Docents Training Program, a pilot program designed to train outstanding undergraduates from Pittsburgh-area universities as docents and staff for Life on Mars, the 55th Carnegie International, which opens on May 3, 2008 at the Carnegie Museum of Art. Students who participate in the program attend a series of training sessions at which they become acquainted with Carnegie Museum of Art, its staff and resources, as well as the thematics of Life on Mars, the work of the artists in the show, and contemporary art in general. In addition, students learn the art of leading guided tours and practice various methods for introducing visitors to contemporary art. Throughout the process, students help build the Life on Mars Web site by participating in blog discussions and other interactive Web 2.0 content. Congratulations to the HAA undergrads who were selected to participate in this endeavor: Kaitlyn Dilliplaine, Caitlin Harpster, Hannah Kauffman, Amanda Matta, Kaileigh Sorchilla, Kelly Tobias, and Jade Ward.
Additional Achievements
- Michele Campbell (HAA major) is the co-winner of the Medieval and Renaissance Studies Undergraduate Essay Competition for her paper "The Influence of Dante's Beatrice on Michelangelo's Female Figures," written under the direction of Kathleen Christian for HAA 1950 (Honors Thesis).
- Congratulations to the recipients of the 2008 HAA departmental awards.
- Erin Hinson (HAA major) - John F. Haskins Award for Academic Excellence in Art History
- Cory Rice (HAA major), Kimberly Sorensen (HAA major), and Emma Waterloo (AS major) - Faculty of Frick Fine Arts Special Commendation Award
- Bridget Kane (AS major) - Fil Hearn Award for Study Abroad
- Kelley Meyer (HAA major) has been admitted into Pitt's MS program in Health Information Management in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences.
- Lindsay Wharton (HAA major) was accepted to Newcastle University (England) and will complete an MA in museum studies program. Lindsay is currently working at International Images, Ltd. in Sewickley.
- Sean Hohman (AS major) was accepted to MArch programs at the University of Cincinnati and the New School of Architecture in San Diego. Sean will attend the University of Southern California at Los Angeles with an entrance scholarship.
- Emma Waterloo (AS major) was accepted to historic preservation programs at Cornell University, Boston University and the University of Vermont. Emma will attend Cornell with a teaching assistantship award.
- Zsolt Závodszky (AS major) will attend Virginia Tech (MArch program) in fall 2008.
- Erin Hinson (HAA major) presented "From Guns to Politics: the Paramilitary Reassessments" at the UCIS Undergraduate Reearch Symposium, spring 2008.
- Alex Dixon (AS major) was accepted into the intensive summer workshop, internship and
volunteer program at Arcosanti in Arizona, an experimental town in the
desert, built to embody Paolo Soleri's concept of arcology - the fusion of
architecture with ecology. - Justin Greenawalt (AS major) will attend Columbia in the fall where he'll complete a Masters of Science in Historic Preservation.
- Meaghan Colahan (HAA major) has been accepted into the MS in Historic Preservation program at the University of Pennsylvania School of Design.
- Kara Snitger (HAA major) was a winner at the 2008 Global Studies Student Research Symposium.
- Maureen Logan (HAA 2007) was admitted to the Masters of Arts Management program at Carnegie Mellon University.
- Teresa Shine (HAA 2007) was promoted by the Carnegie Museums and has been appointed to an IT associate position for the institute.
- Nicole May Rosato (HAA major) has taken a position as museum educator at the Mattress Factory.
- Kara Snitger won the Friends of Frick Fine Arts Writing Award for her paper, "The Faces of Berlin: Interpretations of the Communicative Architectural Facade" written under the direction of Gretchen Bender. Honorable mentions were extended to Kim Sorensen for her paper " Adélaïde Labille-Guiard and the French Revolution," sponsored by Ann Sutherland Harris, and to Alex Dixon for his "The New Castles of Potsdamer Platz," sponsored by Gretchen Bender. See a list of all the nominees »
- Catherine Mueller was accepted into the Istituto Internazionale di Studi
Classici in Orvieto to continue her studies in archaeology this spring. She reports, "I will be staying in Orvieto which is a small medieval town located between Rome and Florence. Orvieto is also an Etruscan site with a large accumulation of Etruscan artifacts. My classes are focused on Classical and Etruscan art, culture, and archaeology. I will have regular classes three days a week and field trips and lectures the other days." While in Italy, Catherine will also spend some time in Naples continuing her research on Caravaggio's Seven Acts of Mercy and is hoping to do a directed study on Etruscan Archaeology while in Orvieto. - Zack Walters (AS 2007) is now employed by Massaro Corporation (Pittsburgh) as Design Building Project Engineer.
- Kim Sorensen (HAA 2007) was accepted to the Bard Graduate Center History of Deocrative Arts program with a merit-based scholarship.
- Maureen Logan (HAA 2007) will complete the Masters of Arts Management program at Carnegie Mellon University.
- Sarah Stewart (HAA 2007) was hired as an exhibitions assistant at the Andy Warhol Museum.
- Congratulations to Nick Maradin (HAA major), who successfully defended his BPhil thesis "MECHA: Expressions of Cultural Influences and Differences Demonstrated in Science Fiction Mechanical Design." Nick worked with faculty member Anne Weis and his thesis developed from his summer Brackenridge project.
- Cheron Urbanek (HAA major) won a Virginia C. Lewis Scholarship for academic year 2007-2008. The fund was created at The Pittsburgh Foundation through a bequest from the estate of Virginia C. Lewis to provide annual scholarships to undergraduate students who are residents of Allegheny County and majoring in art or art history.
- Last summer Patrick Mansfield, a third year HAA major, worked under Dr. Jonathan Katz in putting together two museum exhibitions in Washington DC. Art, AIDS, and America, the first exhibit, will be a retrospective look at how the American art world was affected by, and responded to, the AIDS crisis. Art, AIDS, and America will premier in the summer of 2010 at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington DC. The second exhibit is titled Hide and Seek: Sexuality and Desire in American Portraiture. This exhibit will show the work of artists such as John Singer Sargent, Romaine Brooks, Jasper Johns, and Marisol.