BGSU Zoom News

Thursday, July 13, 2017

Terry-Fritsch receives NEH summer stipend | World Languages and Cultures department formed

Terry-Fritsch awarded an NEH Summer Stipend

RESEARCH MAY DISRUPT THE CANON OF RENAISSANCE ART HISTORY
NEH SUMMER STIPEND ALLOWS ART HISTORY PROFESSOR TO COMPLETE RESEARCH ABOUT MEDICI AND SAN MARCO CONVENT

A Bowling Green State University art history professor is about to disrupt the traditional conventions about Cosimo de’Medici – one of the most important figures in the rise of the Italian Renaissance.

Dr. Allie Terry-Fritsch’s research rediscovers and examines the 15th-century secular users of the first public library in Florence, Italy, at the convent of San Marco and “challenges the canon of Renaissance art history itself,” she explained.

The associate professor of art history in the BGSU School of Art received a prestigious 2017 National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Summer Stipend to support the completion of her book titled “Cosimo de’Medici, Fra Angelico, and the Public Library of San Marco.” Terry-Fritsch, who is thought to be the first BGSU faculty member to receive an NEH Summer Stipend in 20 years, is in Florence for two months this summer to wrap up the research for her book. Of the 900 applicants, she was one of four art historians to receive the award and the only scholar to be working on a non-modern topic.

Her work this summer focuses on the same topic she started as a graduate student in art history at the University of Chicago in 1997. Her master’s thesis was on the Medici appropriation of the cult of the Magi in Florence. With that paper, she started to question if the support of the Observant Dominican convent by the pious and socially inclusive Medici was politically, rather than religiously, motivated.

Mandela Washington fellows visit - The Blade, Sentinel–Tribune, BG Independent
Mural project - BG Independent

Peek chairs new department, World Languages and Cultures

NEW DEPARTMENT FORMED
WORLD LANGUAGES AND CULTURES PROMOTES LINGUISTIC AND CULTURAL COMPETENCE

A new department formed by the merging of two units in the College of Arts and Sciences underscores BGSU’s commitment to global literacy. World Languages and Cultures combines the former departments of German, Russian and East Asian Languages (GREAL) and Romance and Classical Studies (ROCS). Dr. Philip Peek, associate professor of classics, has been appointed chair of the new unit.

“The majority of the world is bilingual,” Peek said. “Research has long shown a connection between being bilingual and higher intellectual and cognitive abilities, the ability to think in creative ways and to adjust to change. Understanding world cultures and being conversant in another language are fundamental skills for today's global citizens.”

The department’s 29 full-time faculty members offer instruction in ten languages: Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Russian and Spanish. Other elective coursework includes classical civilization, film, historical perspectives, literature, modern culture, and peace and conflict studies. Students also have a wide range of opportunities for experiential learning via study abroad, international internships, undergraduate research and other high-engagement activities.

Additionally, a new Master of Arts in European Studies is now available, and a new major – World Languages and Cultures – is in development.