Erin Benay and Catherine Scallen Receive Diekhoff Awards

Erin Benay, Assistant Professor of Art History and Catherine Scallen, the Andrew W. Mellon Associate Professor in the Humanities and Chair of Art History and Art, have received Diekhoff awards. This is the third year in a row that a member of the art history faculty has received a Diekhoff award; four of the seven tenured or tenure track art historians in the department are now Diekhoff winners.
Erin Benay, a specialist in Italian early modern (Renaissance and Baroque) art history, received the John S. Diekhoff Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching. Catherine Scallen, a specialist in northern European early modern art and the history of the art market, received the John S. Diekhoff Award for Excellence in Graduate Mentoring. The Diekhoff awards are given to four university faculty members who have made exemplary contributions to graduate students through their work in and out of the classroom. The process by which awardees are nominated, vetted, and selected is run entirely by university graduate students. The award consists of a plaque and honorarium presented at the university’s Graduate Diploma Ceremony on the day of Commencement, May 21. Professors Benay and Scallen were also recognized at the Graduate Awards Ceremony on May 3, where the Diekhoff winners each spoke briefly.