Position  
Academic Background  
Sample Courses   
Teaching Philosophy
Research & Interests   
Notable Academic Appointments & Awards
Publication Highlights   
Selected Scholarly Presentations   
                                                                          
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Position          

• Associate Professor of Art History
• Department Chair, Art and Art History 

  Academic Background           

• Emory University – Ph.D. Art History, 1993
• Université de Strasbourg, France –  Diplôme d’études françaises, 1986             
• Florida State University – M.A. Art and Religious History, 1985

  Sample Courses Taught at Providence College            

• Medieval Art and Architecture
• Sacred Space in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
• The Apocalypse in Art
• Survey of Art History
• Early Christian and Byzantine Art and Architecture
• Love and Death in Roman Art

Teaching Philosophy

The lust for learning is a contagious one. The Talmud says, "What comes from one heart, enters another’s heart." Indeed, when I teach from the heart, and not solely from the head, I am communicating to the students more than basic information; I am conveying a fundamental love of learning, itself. Once the desire for knowledge has been ignited in the hearts of the students, something transformative happens, and students become masters of their own passion for learning.

Research & Interests

My academic passion finds itself at the intersection – and often collision! – of the art historical and religious worlds. I've been captivated by the relationship of "the sacred" and "the profane" in architecture. How is the sacred constructed physically in ancient Judaism and Christianity? How can one type of substance – most notably blood – be considered the most purifying substance in one setting and the most defiling in another? How do questions of sacrifice and gender influence the structuring of the sacred and the profane? The life of our present religious and artistic communities often emerges from these late-antique traditions and centuries of grappling with them, making them relevant and important issues for students to understand today.

Also, as Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence, I think it is important to recognize the multiple dimensions of faculty members, especially in their roles as teachers and scholars. The CTE is thus committed to supporting faculty teaching and research, not simply as two separate entities, but as mutually reinforcing elements within the lives of faculty members.

  Notable Academic Appointments and Awards

• National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, 2002-2003
• Brown University, 2003, Visiting Associate Professor, History of Art and Architecture
• Harvard University, 2001-2002, Research Associate and Visiting Lecturer in the Women's Studies in Religion Program.  Scholarly project and graduate seminar: "Sacred Space as Gendered Space: Women, Blood, and Sacrifice in Late Antiquity"
• Hamburg, Aby-Warburg-Stiftung (Hans-Reimer-Preis), 1997-1998
• Postdoctoral Positions:  
  • The Sorbonne, École Pratique des Hautes Études, 1994-1995, Fellow
  • The Getty Center for the History of Art & the Humanities, 1993-1994, Fellow

  Publication Highlights

• Sacred Space in Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity (New York: Cambridge University Press), forthcoming.
• "Penetrating the Sacred:  Breaches and Barriers in the Jerusalem  Temple," Thresholds of the Sacred:  Architectural, Art Historical, Liturgical, and Theological Perspectives on Religious Screens, East and West, ed. Sharon Gerstel (Washington D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks), in press.
• “Hedging the Holy: Walls as Symbolic Devices at Qumran,” Qumran: Site of the Dead Sea Scrolls, eds. Jean-Baptiste Humbert, Katharina Galor, and Jürgen Zangenberg (Boston: Brill), in press.
• "Blood in Flux, Sanctity at Issue," RES Anthropology and Aesthetics, XXXI, Spring 1997, 53-70.
• "Bloody Women and Bloody Spaces: Menses and the Eucharist in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages," Harvard Divinity Bulletin, 30, 4, Spring 2002, 15-22.
• "Vicarious Sacrality: T emple Space in Ancient Synagogues," Ancient Synagogues: Historical Analysis and Archaeological Discovery, II, eds. Dan Urman and Paul V. M. Flesher (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1995), 319-345.
• "Sacrality and Aura in the Museum: Mute Objects and Articulate Space," The Journal of the Walters Art Gallery , LII/LIII, 1994/1995, 33-47.
• "Sacred Space Under Erasure in Ancient Synagogues and Early Churches," The Art Bulletin, LXXIV, 3, 1992, 375-394.  Received the 1993 Award for Excellence in Graduate Research in the Humanities, Emory University.

Selected Scholarly Presentations and Activities

Documentary Television Projects:

• "The Trial of Jesus," a scholarly documentary on the trial and death of Jesus; The History Channel, on-camera scholarly commentator and writer, April 2004.
• "Sacred Space at Ground Zero?" a religion and ethics newsweekly program addressing the debate over whether or not the site of the World Trade Center can be considered sacred; PBS, on-camera scholarly commentator, September 2002.
• "Red Gold: An Epic History of Blood," the history and meaning of blood in religion, society, and medicine from antiquity to present; PBS , on-camera scholarly commentator, June 2002.
• "Women Pharaohs," a history of female cult, Gods Wives of Amun, and women’s power in ancient Egypt; The Discovery Channel, scholarly consultant, December 2001.
• "American Byzantine," the Medieval and Byzantine elements of the National Shrine in Washington D.C.; PBS, on-camera scholarly commentator, October 2000. Production won the Gold Award at the Houston Worldfest for best religion program and the Silver Award at the US International Film and Video Festival.
• "Hagia Sophia," documentary on Byzantine architecture, Justinian, and Hagia Sophia; The Discovery Channel, on-camera scholarly commentator, October 1999.

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