It has been a pleasure and a privilege to oversee the department during this academic year. I think it is fair to say that we have flourished.

Our graduate students have garnered a plethora of awards and fellowships, both external and internal. Among the external fellowships are those from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, the Council of American Overseas Research Centers, the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Society for French Historical Studies, the Dumbarton Oaks, and the Medieval Academy of America. Some received important local fellowships: the Cleveland Foundation Public Service Fellowship and the Keithley Fellowship in Community-Engaged Art History. We also had a slew of Eva L. Pancoast Memorial Fellowship winners; one student received the Graduate Dean’s Instructional Excellence Award and four the Friends of Art departmental awards. Our graduate students have also presented at a startling range of important conferences—at the Archaeological Institute of America Annual Meeting, the Vagantes Conference on Medieval Studies, the Byzantine Studies Conference, the National Gallery, the Newberry Library, American Institute for Southeast European Studies Conference, and the Midwest Art History Society, to name just a few—where they were also awarded a range of prizes and awards. They have also published widely: in peer-reviewed journals, in edited volumes, in exhibition catalogues. Their professional development opportunities have ranged from curating exhibitions at the Norton Simon Museum and the Cleveland Museum of Art to taking part in the American Excavations at Samothrace.

Our faculty have received a great set of grants and awards as well, including several Expanding Horizons grants, large and small, the Ohio Humanities Council grant, and the Jessica Melton Perry Award for Distinguished Teaching in Disciplinary & Professional Writing. They have published in some of the flagship journals of the field such as the Art Bulletin and Art History, had curated current and upcoming exhibitions at the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Sears think[box], and had books come out (or imminently coming out!) with flagship academic and art presses, including Cambridge, Phaidon, and De Gruyter. They have also co-organized high-profile symposia: “Canal to Cuyahoga: Everlasting Plastics in Context” at the Cleveland Museum of Art / CWRU and “Cosmic Ecologies: Animalities in Premodern Jewish Culture” (Northwestern University and the Newberry Library).

In the meantime, our graduating BAs and MAs are heading to some of the best graduate programs in the US and Europe. It was wonderful to celebrate them at the graduation! We look forward to welcoming our new graduate cohort in August and are excited have a new colleague, Professor Ben Murphy, join us in the fall.

I hope you have a fabulous summer—see you in August!

Departmental party:

Awards ceremony:

Graduation: