Congratulations to Erin Benay who was promoted to Associate Professor effective July 1!  Professor Benay, an expert in Italian Renaissance and Baroque art, explores the ways in which early modern objects are manufactured, how they move through space and time, and in what ways they contribute to the production of knowledge and belief. Professor Benay’s first book, Faith, Gender, and the Senses: Interpreting the Noli me tangere and Doubting Thomas (co-authored with Lisa M. Rafanelli, Ashgate, 2015) considers how representations of these two popular Renaissance subjects engaged with contemporary theories of the senses and definitions of gender. Professor Benay’s second book, Exporting Caravaggio: The Crucifixion of Saint Andrew (Giles, 2017), uses a single, understudied painting in the Cleveland Museum of Art as a point of departure to discuss how the mobility of objects and the history of collecting shape the interpretation of canonical works of art. Her current research investigates the role of Saint Thomas apostle in cultural exchanges between Italy and India during the early modern period; she was awarded fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Institute of Indian Studies to support this work.  Professor Benay has been nominated twice for the Carl F. Wittke award for excellence in undergraduate teaching, and was awarded the John S. Diekhoff Award for excellence in graduate teaching in 2017.