News Highlights

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR ELISABETH FRASER RECEIVES NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES FELLOWSHIP

TAMPA, Fla. (Jan. 19, 2007) – Elisabeth Fraser, associate professor of art history in USF’s College of Visual and Performing Arts, has been named a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow for the 2007-08 academic year.

Fraser was awarded the $40,000 NEH fellowship to work on her book, Mediterranean Encounters: Travel, Representation and French Expansionism, 1780-1850.

The NEH fellowship is one of the most prestigious awards given to scholars in the arts: Of 1,398 applications from all humanities disciplines in 2006, only 153 were awarded fellowships.

“The College of Visual and Performing Arts is extremely proud of this recognition and considers it a validation of the strong art history program at USF,” said Ron Jones, dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts.

Fraser’s study explores the relationship between travel images and imperialist politics, and examines a host of artists, print makers, architects, cartographers, booksellers, antiquarians, archaeologists, diplomats, and writers.

“In addition to spreading knowledge about Mediterranean societies,” Fraser writes, “travel literature and images played a major role in defining France’s sense of itself as heir to the ancient civilizations of the Mediterranean and as an expansionist presence in the regions of the Ottoman Empire.”

In Mediterranean Encounters, Fraser’s second book project, she connects travel images to ethnographic studies, travel fiction, the history of the book, European politics, the sociology of tourism, post-colonial theory, and travel history.

Her first book, Delacroix, Art and Patrimony in Post-Revolutionary France was published in 2004 by Cambridge University Press. Fraser’s research has been previously supported by a summer fellowship from USF’s Humanities Institute, two Summer Provost’s Grants, and a Creative Scholarship Grant from Sponsored Research.

USF ART HISTORY PROFESSOR RICCARDO MARCHI NAMED GETTY INSTITUTE

Assistant Professor of Art History Riccardo Marchi has been named a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Getty Research Institute, where he will be in residence during the 2007-08 academic year, working on his book project Looking at Pure Painting in Berlin: Boccioni, Kandinsky and Delaunay at “Der Sturm’’, 1912-1913. The Getty Research Institute is one of the world’s leading institutions for research in the visual arts, and its residential grants are valued/recognized by the National Research Council, the Top American Research Universities (TARU), and the American Association of Universities.

PARIS PROGRAM ATTRACTS RECORD NUMBER OF STUDENTS

USF's 20th Annual Paris Summer Arts Program enrolled 70 students for 2007. Spending a month in Paris, with a supplementary trip to Venice for an international arts fair, visual arts and dance students had the experience of a lifetime. The program, under the coordination of USF professor Lou Marcus, was taught by USF professors of visual arts, Neil Bender and Elisabeth Fraser and dance professor Michael Foley. Anne Jeffrey, USF adjunct, also taught in the program. Special Guest, Dean Ron Jones of USF's College of Visual and Performing Arts, visited with the students and faculty in Paris.

ALUMNI ROSS AND PARKER INSPIRE NEW COMMUNITIES THROUGH ART

THE USF School of Art and Art History continues to develop progressive partnerships for fostering growth and education in the local community.

Community Stepping Stones, a part of the Good Community Alliance, Inc., is coordinated by USF art alumni and adjunct faculty Ed Ross and Michael Parker. USF's link to the consortium is made possible through a Foundation endowment from the Bank of America.

Stepping Stones and the Good Community Alliance are non-profit organizations that "effectively enhance communities through collaboration, mentorship and education."

Utilizing after school and weekend classes for adults and children, the partnership offers internships and courses to USF art and art history students, who also gain valuable professional experience working with residents in the community.

The partnership has garnered numerous awards for artistic projects in the Sulphur Springs area of the city of Tampa. A Board of Directors was initiated in summer 2007 and includes members of the City Council of Tampa, the director of the Hillsborough Arts Council, the executive director of the Tampa Bay Business Committee for the Arts, a distinguished professor from the University of Tampa, and the director of the USF School of Art and Art History.