Hollyhock House at Barnsdall Art Park
Perched atop Olive Hill, the Hollyhock House stands as one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s most significant West Coast works and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Built in the early 1920s for oil heiress Aline Barnsdall, the home represents Wright’s experimentation with blending architecture and environment, what he called “organic architecture.”

�þ��� explored the house’s Mayan Revival influences, geometric motifs and the iconic hollyhock flower design woven throughout the structure. The site offered a powerful introduction to how Los Angeles became a testing ground for architectural innovation, especially during a time when the city was rapidly expanding and redefining itself culturally.

Downtown Los Angeles: Layers of History and Movement
Traveling via the Los Angeles Metro, students experienced the city as Angelenos do, through its evolving public transit system, before diving into the heart of downtown.

Union Station – Opened in 1939, Union Station is often called the “Last of the Great Railway Stations.” Its architecture blends Spanish Colonial Revival, Mission Revival, and Art Deco styles, reflecting Los Angeles’s layered cultural identity. Inside, students observed the grandeur of its waiting rooms, tiled floors, and wooden beam ceilings, symbols of a bygone era when rail travel defined urban movement.

Angels Flight – Just a short walk away, Angels Flight, the world’s shortest railway, offered insight into the city’s early 20th-century infrastructure. Originally built in 1901, the funicular once transported residents up Bunker Hill, a neighborhood that has since undergone dramatic redevelopment. Its preservation speaks to ongoing efforts to maintain pieces of Los Angeles’ historic fabric amid modernization.

Los Angeles City Hall & Chinatown
At City Hall, students discussed civic architecture and governance, noting the building’s Art Deco style and symbolic prominence in the LA skyline. Nearby Chinatown provided a contrasting cultural lens, highlighting immigrant histories, urban displacement and the evolution of ethnic enclaves in Los Angeles.

Olvera Street
Often referred to as the birthplace of Los Angeles, Olvera Street immerses visitors in Mexican-American heritage. �þ��� explored its marketplace, murals and historic buildings while discussing the complexities of cultural preservation versus commercialization. The site reflects both celebration and simplification of heritage, an important conversation in art and public history.

Angelus Temple & Echo Park
In Echo Park, students visited Angelus Temple, a striking example of early 20th-century religious architecture and a cornerstone of the Foursquare Church movement founded by evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson. Built in 1923, the temple reflects a blend of revivalist architecture and emerging media-savvy religious practices, as McPherson was one of the first to use radio to reach a national audience.

The surrounding Echo Park neighborhood added another layer to the visit, offering insight into how communities evolve over time. Once a streetcar suburb, Echo Park has transformed into a culturally vibrant area shaped by waves of immigration, artistic communities, and, more recently, gentrification. Together, the site and neighborhood sparked discussion on the intersection of faith, media and urban change.

The Gamble House
In Pasadena, students visited the Gamble House, a masterpiece of the American Arts and Crafts movement designed by architects Charles Sumner Greene and Henry Mather Greene in 1908. Commissioned by the Procter & Gamble family, the home emphasizes craftsmanship, natural materials, and harmony with its surroundings.

�þ��� examined intricate woodwork, custom furnishings, and the intentional use of light and space—hallmarks of the Arts and Crafts philosophy, which emerged as a reaction against industrialization. The visit provided a striking contrast to Wright’s modernism, allowing students to compare different architectural responses to similar cultural shifts.

Looking ahead: Final excursions
As the semester continues, students will expand their exploration of the city’s artistic and architectural landscape with one final site visit.
The course will conclude with a visit to the Walt Disney Concert Hall, designed by renowned architect Frank Gehry. Celebrated for its sweeping stainless-steel forms and innovative acoustics, the building stands as a defining example of contemporary architecture in Los Angeles. Here, students will consider how modern design continues to push artistic and structural boundaries while shaping the city’s global cultural identity.

These excursions bring course themes to life, allowing students to critically engage with Los Angeles as a living museum. From early 20th-century architectural movements to the layered cultural histories embedded in downtown neighborhoods and beyond, each site offers a unique perspective on how art and environment shape one another.

By navigating the city firsthand, students not only deepen their understanding of art history but also develop a stronger connection to LA itself—its stories, its communities and its ever-evolving identity.

The immersive Study USA Los Angeles semester and summer experiences offer students opportunities for alumni engagement, community service, unique academic classes with industry professionals and site-based experiential learning. .

 (Brepols, 2026) is derived from the third and fourth installations of the  conference. The purpose of the conference was to examine how the bishop, one of the key characters in the administration of medieval Europe, shaped how medieval European history has been recorded and remembered. Bolstered by the sense that the bishop, as an organizing idea, matters, the inaugural conference, In the Hands of God’s Servants, sought to examine the construction, enhancement, and expression of episcopal power at a local level. Papers selected and adapted for publication appeared in , which offers microhistories of episcopal power and authority, fracturing what we know about the bishop into episodes that represent dioceses and dependents, and the individuals that ran them. The singularity of these stories inspired the subject of the second conference on Episcopal Personalities. Papers from this conference were published in , which explored the work and responsibilities of the bishop, how a bishop’s persona shaped his approach to the episcopal office, and how a bishop’s charisma affected the way in which he was received or remembered by the communities he served.

Analysis of the bishop’s personality encouraged the organizers to mine the slippery space between the office and the man, not only for the ways this space elides differences between the episcopal personae of priest, pastor, or prince, but also because the space sheds light on from where— or from whom — a bishop’s power derived. The third conference, The Bishop as Diplomat, took up this question as its focus, turning away from the bishop as an agent for and as himself, to the bishop’s role as a representative of the power and authority of others. The papers offered at this conference examined how bishops developed the skills and tactics needed for diplomacy, as well as how and when these skills were deployed, and in what circumstances. They also explored what it meant for a bishop, who was already representing an office beyond himself, to be a diplomat, which often required the bishop to re-present someone else.

Two years later, organizers turned to a theme that had been at the edge of each of the previous conferences: the Bishop as Patron. This conference focused on visual, material and social expressions of episcopal power as well as how those expressions were managed to ensure the legitimacy or the legacy of a bishop. Papers examined traditional examples of patronage, such as those demonstrated through the construction, expansion, and renovation of buildings and the production and reception of manuscripts. The papers asked how and with whom bishops built relationships, and how those relationships were maintained (or neglected).

The essays selected from these last two conferences were edited, expanded and combined into a single volume. Together, they offer a broad overview of how relational culture defines how, why, and for whom bishops work.

is divided into four parts. The introduction, authored by Gatti and Silvestri, explains how this book, the last in the “Power of the Bishop” series, responds to and expands on the usefulness of the “bishop” as a category of scholarly focus. Next, a prologue by Philippa Byrne asks, “What was Episcopal about Episcopal Patronage?” The remaining essays are divided into two sections. The first section, “Episcopal Patronage as Re/Presentation”, foregrounds the material aspects of episcopal patronage, such as churches, manuscripts, hagiographies, rites, rituals, frescoes, windows and tombs. This section includes a chapter by Gatti, “Diplomatic Gestures: Art and Ambivalence in Eleventh-Century Italy”, in which she compares visual images of the bishop to the embodied language of diplomatic gestures. The final section, “Patronizing Bishops: Clients, Diplomats, Allies, and Rivals”, examines episcopal patronage as an extension of episcopal relationships with families, kings, emperors, and clients, with predecessors and successors, as alliances and antagonisms, and between bishops and their congregations, as well as the monastic and secular clergy.

Creating a coherent collection in a field as broad and disparate as medieval studies can be challenging. In fact, the hardships experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic, prohibitions for travel, the closure of archives and libraries across the UK, Europe, and North America, as well as the crises in higher education and funding cuts for scholarly work, made completing this book particularly difficult. In fact, it was because of these challenges that a decision was made to publish papers from the 2017 and 2019 conferences together after plans for a separate volume fell through. This effort fulfilled a commitment made by the conveners to publish high-quality scholarly papers that had been selected and expanded for publication.

Thee colorful pieces, on loan to �þ��� for the next four years, celebrate trans and nonbinary individuals through vibrant and affirming portraiture. Truitt Center leaders say the temporary addition of these pieces to the university’s collection underscores a commitment to the recognition and celebration of diverse religious and spiritual identities.

This exhibit was brought to Elon as part of the Truitt Center’s Spirit and Pride initiative, which seeks to highlight and uplift the intersection of LGBTQIA+ identities and spirituality, in partnership with the Gender and LGBTQIA Center and the Center for the Study of Religion, Culture, and Society.

Spirit and Pride Intern Aeiris Faloni believes having these works on campus will make a huge impact.

“Having this art hung in the Numen Lumen Pavilion makes me feel seen, heard, and at home,” Faloni said. “It gives us an opportunity to appreciate queer joy, and spark deeper conversations about gender and sexuality. It encourages those interested to ask questions, and learn more about the intersectionality of religion and queerness.”

“Art has the power to spark conversation, foster empathy, and build a more understanding world,” said Hillary Zaken, director of multifaith programming and engagement, who coordinated the effort to bring the art to Elon. “Our hope is that this art can expand perspectives on religious and spiritual diversity while celebrating those who may not have always been welcome in traditional religious spaces.”

The two portraits that will be displayed at the Numen Lumen Pavilion are:

• Aodhán (48” x 60”): A two-spirit trans man deeply connected to his Scottish and Native American heritage. According to the Truitt Center, Aodhán is a gifted artist and craftsman who hand makes spiritual items for ceremonial use; his portrait captures the rich interweaving of cultural and spiritual traditions that shape his identity and artistic practice.
• Ceraun (48” x 48”): A self-described multimedia artist and philosopher, Ceraun’s creative practice spans video, photography, poetry and performance, all grounded in a deeply spiritual foundation. Their portrait reflects their expansive artistic vision and the way their work serves as a profound exploration of identity and meaning.

“The inclusion of Rae Senarighi’s Transcend portraits in the Numen Lumen Pavilion affirms the sacredness of our identities in their full intersectional expression,” said University Champlain and Dean of Multifaith Engagement Kristin Boswell. “Reflecting Elon’s multifaith values and commitment to inclusion, these works invite reflection on how authenticity and visibility foster belonging and liberation.”

The works will be prominently displayed on the first floor of the Numen Lumen Pavilion for the coming two years. Additional locations across campus are also being considered to ensure these pieces reach a wide audience during the time they are on loan to the University.

The Artist’s Vision: Representation and Connection

Rae Senarighi’s Transcend Series was born out of a profound realization—he had never seen someone who looked like him in a museum portrait gallery. Determined to change that, Senarighi began creating vibrant, large-scale paintings of trans and nonbinary individuals, capturing not just their likeness but their spirit.

“In my experience as a cancer survivor, I have become starkly aware of life’s fragility and its equal preciousness,” said Senarighi. “When I paint, I let go of judgment and cynicism and tap into what I believe is my true essence—my soul.”

This deeply personal approach informs his work, creating portraits that radiate life, dignity and resilience. Senarighi describes his artistic practice as an offering—an opportunity to provide public representation for trans and nonbinary communities, ensuring that people of all identities see themselves reflected in public spaces.

“My hope is that people walk away from viewing these portraits with a shared understanding that trans folks are just people,” he explained. “We have been used as a political tool of division in national politics for many years, and it’s harmful and painful to see happening. I hope that when people look into the faces of my portraits, they see themselves reflected too—that any preconditioned prejudice or ignorance is interrupted and that some softness, empathy, and understanding come through instead.”

Faloni concurs: “As a Spirit and Pride intern, and as an artist myself, being able to celebrate trans artists and display their unique work encourages me to dive into my own personal expression and creativity. I can’t wait to see how these works light up the pavilion and their viewers.”

Representation Matters

For many, seeing these portraits displayed in a public space is a powerful experience.

“It is deeply impactful to see faces and bodies like ours as beautiful and revered,” said Senarighi. “Trans and nonbinary folks deserve to see accurate and celebratory reflections of themselves just as the rest of the world does.”

For Luis H. Garay, director of the Gender and LGBTQIA Center, and one of the campus partners responsible for bringing the art to Elon, this kind of collaboration is critical.

“We are excited to be in collaboration with the Truitt Center to bring Rae Senarighi’s work to the �þ��� community,” said Garay. “This collaboration is important to honor people’s multiple and intersecting identities including gender identity, sexual orientation, and religious/spiritual identity. The artwork is incredibly beautiful and breathtaking. I hope many come out to see the works in person!”

The Truitt Center and the Center for the Study of Religion, Culture, and Society, both housed in the Numen Lumen Pavilion, are committed to ensuring that its space reflects the rich diversity of religious and spiritual experiences.

Expanding the Conversation

As part of ongoing efforts to deepen engagement with these artworks, the Truitt Center is exploring opportunities for programming connected to their themes. Senarighi has generously offered to participate in a virtual artist talk, which is expected to align with Trans Day of Visibility.

Collaborators for this exhibit include the Gender & LGBTQIA Center, the Center for Race, Ethnicity, and Diversity Education, the Art History department and the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies program.

The stories behind them — some rescued from shipwrecks, others once partially censored by the Chinese government now re-revealed for modern eyes — can be found with the collection.

The pieces were donated to the �þ��� Art Collections by Robert and Christi Bryden, friends of �þ��� President Emeritus Leo Lambert. The Brydens collected nearly 100 pieces of Chinese porcelain in their travels to Hong Kong and around the globe before donating the collection to Elon in 2022.

Téa Jones ’26 and Lizzie Ostling ’26, student workers with the Art Collections, spent nearly six months curating the pieces using Robert Bryden’s art history book collection — also on display for students and faculty to study — and his extensive notes. Each of the plates, vases, and artwork on display in the Inman Reading Room is accompanied by information about its origin and history.

“The ones we thought had the most interesting stories were the ones we chose for the exhibit,” Jones said. “We hope people who use the reading room will see these valuable artworks and learn something new when they come here to study.”

Elon’s Art Collections include around 2,000 pieces in nine collections. The Brydens’ donation bolsters the university’s International Collection, which numbers around 600 pieces, and adds art from an area of the world that was relatively underrepresented within the collection, said Ethan Moore, coordinator of the Art Collections.

“We have a few porcelain vases from other collectors, but nothing of this size and this magnitude,” Moore said. “This is really a premier collection from Bob and Christi Bryden, with a number of just wonderful pieces. What’s on display is really only about half of what they gave.”

In coming years, students will research and curate additional displays from the Brydens’ collection and other items in the International Collection, Moore said.

The Brydens first discussed donating the pieces to Elon in conversation with the Lamberts.

“The Brydens were interested in students working with the collection, and this is exactly what they envisioned,” Lambert said. “They wanted students to be touching, analyzing, thinking about and planning exhibits with the pieces. I’m just thrilled to see what students have done with it, and there will be more opportunity for other students to curate other exhibits down the road.”

As part of her semester-long appointment, she is �þ��� a graduate level seminar on Zen and visual/material culture and pursuing research for her next book. On Friday, Oct. 25, Winfield also delivered the keynote address for the annual Premodern Japanese Religions Conference at McGill University.

Her talk, “Materiality as Method: How to Do Things with Zen” launched the conference, where scholars from Harvard, McGill, University of Edinburgh, SUNY Albany and High Point University shared their latest research at the intersection of Buddhist studies and visual/material culture.

The lightning talks will be from:

Jacqueline DeBrew, Nursing

Show Me Your Story:  A community organization that provides transitional housing to people experiencing homelessness was the site for a qualitative study which utilized interviews and Photovoice to understand what activities performed by residents increases self-determination in managing their health, what barriers exist, as well as what nurses can do to support them.

Evan Gatti, Art History

Evan will share work completed as part of the Multispectral Imaging Collective Videntes (Latin, plural for the act of seeing). Over the last few years, Videntes has imaged six of the seven medieval scrolls preserved in the Museo del Tesoro del Duomo e Archivio Capitolare in Vercelli, Italy. Each scroll preserves a different mode of �þ��� or learning from their original medieval contexts and now, each presents a unique technical problem to their modern interpreters. Gatti’s work, specially, focuses on what we can see better through multispectral analysis using an object that does not demonstrate clear damage or intentional reuse. She will share how the process of slow (or layered) looking encouraged by multispectral analysis offers insights into medieval drawing and copying practices and what the implications of those findings could be for expanded use of multispectral analysis in art history.

Jessica Merricks, Biology

Reflective writing is an underutilized strategy in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) curricula for a variety of reasons, yet it may deepen disciplinary understanding and shape students’ cognitive, social, and emotional perspectives. Jessica’s research focuses on how to help students reflect more deeply on their learning process and their relationship with science content. She will also share results from a newly designed rubric for evaluating students’ written reflections.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Are you interested in participating in a future Faculty Scholarship Lunch & Learn, or would you like to nominate a colleague? Let us know using

Ringelberg is the institute’s 2023-24 Kaleta A. Doolin Foundation Fellow and will be in residence at the Clark campus in Williamston, Massachusetts, beginning in January 2024. The Clark functions as an art museum and center for research and higher education in the visual arts. Its Research and Academic Program annually selects from among top international scholars to award fellowships ranging from two to nine months. It is one of only a handful of fellowships dedicated to art history.

“The 2023–24 Clark Fellows represent an exceptional group of scholars,” said Caroline Fowler, Starr Director of the Research and Academic Program. “They bring many perspectives, as well as great vitality and creativity to the Clark. The scope of these projects is thrilling. We’re excited to introduce our Fellows, and their ground-breaking work, to our community.”

Focusing on the life and art of Madeleine Lemaire, a highly successful artist and teacher in the French Third Republic period now often overlooked due to the genre and subjects of her work, Ringelberg’s scholarship will advance the study of queer issues in art and art history. The project brings together their leadership in developing trans art history and visual culture with their work on 19th century gender construction and representation.

“There isn’t a lot of scholarship around trans art history and visual culture, and most of that is within modern and contemporary art. This is an important place for me to bring my talents and an important effort to challenge binary systems that still have a stranglehold on 19th and 20th century art history,” Ringelberg said.

Lemaire lived and painted “like a man and a woman and neither. Her story is a complex and necessarily incomplete one that encompasses conceptions of genre and gender that remain under meaningful contemporary debate.”

Ringelberg will examine the hierarchy of art genres — regarding subject matter ranked from history painting to portraiture, landscape, genre painting, landscape and still life — and the gendered standards of their value. For example, it was more acceptable for women to paint flowers and still life, seen as the lowest form of art, but not history paintings or nudes. Lemaire found successful markets for both her watercolor paintings of flowers and larger-scale figural paintings including nudes. She likewise was a social success among an influential and chic circle of friends.

“While Lemaire’s lifestyle is now very much in style, her art — and recognition of her importance in art history — are not. The story I wish to tell will reinvest Lemaire’s time and space with its original queerness and investigate how we understand style more broadly — working in a particular style, being in and out of style, lifestyle, and the temporal and historiographic location of particular style,” Ringelberg said.

Ringelberg is one of 16 Clark Fellows named this spring. They hail from universities across the U.S., Brazil, Spain, the Bahamas and Japan. To date, more than 400 scholars from 30 countries have participated in the Clark Fellows program.

“The list of past Clark fellows are my heroes,” Ringelberg said. “They are the superstars of the art history world, and they are the authors I assign in my courses. They’re some of the scholars who have been the most significant to me as an art historian.”

Ringelberg is the author of “Redefining Gender in American Impressionist Studio Painting: Work Place/Domestic Space,” published in 2017, numerous articles and essays, and in 2020 co-edited the Journal of Visual Culture’s first issue devoted to transgender art. In May, they were the recipient of �þ���’s Daniels-Danieley Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Elon faculty and staff members gathered in Alumni Gym for the event, which also included recognition of employees for years-of-service milestones and special recognitions of faculty and staff members who are retiring this academic year.

The celebration came as Elon prepares to conclude the academic year, with exams for �þ���s beginning on Wednesday, May 10, and �þ��� commencement on Friday, May 20.

“Today is the day we honor and recognize the living out of our mission, the close of another successful academic year,” President Connie Ledoux Book said. “And without you, the faculty and staff, that would not be possible. So, this is the day when we pause to appreciate one another.”

Honored with awards from the university this year were Professor of Art History Kirstin Ringelberg, Professor of Exercise Science Caroline Ketcham, Assistant Professor of Biology Jessica Merricks, and Director of International Services Kristen Aquilino.

Daniels-Danieley Award for Excellence in Teaching

Professor of Art History Kirstin Ringelberg

�þ���’s commitment to �þ��� �þ��� has been well-documented. One of Elon’s shining examples of its dedication to the success and well-being of its students is Professor of Art History Kirstin Ringelberg.

“Watching Professor Ringelberg teach within the classroom is an experience that all who love education and inquiry should experience,” a group of colleagues wrote in support of Ringelberg’s nomination. “Within the walls of the classroom, it is possible to see the passion that Professor Ringelberg has for art history, critical thinking and, most of all, their students.”

Ringelberg joined Elon in 2003 and has never rested on their laurels since arriving, always evolving and using new approaches of grading and assessment, combining best practices in anti-racist pedagogy with approaches to ungrading, contract grading and metacognitive reflection writing.

They have now added the Daniels-Danieley Award to a plethora of recognitions such as the Elon College Excellence in Teaching Award in 2008, the Barbara H. Carlton Award for Outstanding Advisor of the Year from SGA in 2013, and the Elon LGBTQIA Community Enrichment Award twice in 2012 and 2022.

Ringelberg’s effective �þ��� has also made an impact on students outside of the classroom as they have mentored 29 independent research projects, and many mentees have gone on to stake a claim in many impressive graduate programs worldwide and make a name for themselves in the field.

“The kindness that Dr. R expresses in the classroom translates directly into their work as an independent research mentor. In the past year years working in collaboration with Dr. R, I have accomplished goals that I was convinced were out of reach. They have taught me that I can do anything that I set my mind to, that failure is an opportunity and to listen to my gut. They have given me the ability and opportunity to think critically about the structure of the world around me and have taught me to work toward the future that I want to see,” a current art history major and Elon College Fellow said of Ringelberg.

“Having a mentor and professor like Dr. Ringelberg is a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I pat myself on the back every day because I have been lucky enough to have them both,” that student added.

Ringelberg’s intentional support of students, especially in Black, indigenous and people of color (BIPOC), first-generation and LGBTQIA communities, draws from their own experience of not fitting the status quo. As the founding director of what is now Elon’s Gender and LGBTQIA Center, an organizer of the first Lavender Graduation ceremony and one who has stood alongside students in the Black Lives Matter movement, “students know that Professor Ringelberg is genuinely on their side,” a group of colleagues wrote in a nomination letter supporting Ringelberg for the award.

“[They work] tirelessly to make Elon more welcoming to those historically marginalized at Elon. Professor Ringelberg’s unwavering commitment to equity and inclusion includes �þ��� courses and building a program that embodies Elon’s mission to prepare students as ‘global citizens and informed leaders motivated by the common good,'” Ringelberg’s colleagues added.

One former student spoke about her experience with Ringelberg during her time at Elon. When recently going back through journals she kept during her time as an Elon �þ���, “unsurprisingly Dr. Ringelberg’s name came up quite often.”

“They quickly became a part of my everyday life, but I firmly believe their effect on my life would be the same had I only met them once,” the student wrote. “You only have to meet Dr. Ringelberg once for them to profoundly impact your life.”

Another former student wrote that the skills she has learned at Elon, the experiences abroad and with advanced research, and the comfort she’s had with academia and how well she’s navigated her career have all stemmed from her connection with Ringelberg.

“I count Dr. Ringelberg as a lifelong mentor, teacher and friend, and I am sorry for anyone who hasn’t had the opportunity to experience this same level of connection with a truly remarkable professor,” a former student wrote in support of Ringelberg.

“I’d like to thank all of you for challenging me to be a better teacher. I’m still learning, I’m still working on it. I think about it, obviously, too much but I hope that some of the enthusiasm we have for �þ��� here in this room and across this campus can better parlay into enthusiasm both in our communities locally and nationwide,” Ringelberg said as they accepted the Daniels-Danieley Award.

Ringelberg is the 51st recipient of the award established by President Emeritus J. Earl Danieley ’46 and his wife, Verona Daniels Danieley, in honor of their parents.

Distinguished Scholar Award

Professor of Exercise Science Caroline Ketcham

A prolific and preeminent scholar in the field of exercise science, Professor Caroline Ketcham has a track record of scholarship and research that has contributed to deeper conversations about holistic approaches to learning and development centered on equity, inclusion and wellbeing. During her 25-year career, Ketcham has developed broad and deep expertise in the area of motor control, with a particular focus on using features of the control and coordination of movement to understand neural function.

Ketcham joined the faculty at �þ��� in 2007 as an assistant professor and served eight years as department chair and was named full professor in 2017. She has more than 65 peer-reviewed publications and has co-edited two collections in disciplinary and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning spaces.

She has worked to foster �þ��� research at Elon and support students pursuing intense research goals, including serving as mentor or co-mentor to more than 100 students. Those students have gone on to present their work at professional conferences and serve as lead authors and co-authors on publications.

“This award means a lot to me. I came here because I believe in the power of the research process to help our �þ��� students see their potential in a very different way,” Ketcham said while accepting the Distinguished Scholar Award.

Ketcham is co-director and co-creator of the Elon BrainCARE Research Institute, which was founded in 2014 to bind together a line of research that examines the impact of concussions from a variety of perspectives and with consideration of a multitude of variables. With co-director Professor Eric Hall, she has worked to expand the scope of the institute to support positive mental health frameworks for students and student-athletes, with the goal of supporting colleagues who are in turn serving these populations.

“I want my work to impact the communities I am a part of as well as have the capacity to change the conversation and practices for the better across contexts and all levels of decision-making,” Ketcham said. “I am continually learning from the students, colleagues, participants, health professionals, patients, caregivers and friends who challenge me to see new perspectives in all the work I do and who I do the work for.”

Ketcham says she has evolved as a researcher, person and professional, particularly in how she approaches patient populations. That has included a shift from “using” patients to better understand the brain to “partnering with” patients to advance the research in her field, a change that Ketcham says “flattens power structures and centers reciprocity in the process, which aligns with my work on mentoring models and practices.”

Ketcham earned her bachelor’s degree in biology and psychology from Colby College before pursuing her master’s degree and then a doctorate in exercise science and motor control from Arizona State University. Before joining Elon, she was an assistant professor at Texas A&M University.

At Elon, Ketcham has been recognized repeatedly for her leadership, service, commitment to students and her dedication to the art and science of �þ���. She received the Faculty Award for Excellence in Scholarship from the Dr. Jo Watts Williams School of Education in 2010 and the Elon College Outstanding Service Award in 2014. In 2017, she was selected for the Ward Family Excellence in Mentoring Award and in 2021 was selected to serve as a Center for Engaged Learning Scholar for a two-year term.

An Elon colleague wrote in support of Ketcham’s selection for the Distinguished Scholar Award that “it would be hard for me to find someone else on campus who personifies Elon’s Teacher-Scholar model more so than Caroline.” She’s viewed as an innovative scholar who can perceive connections across disciplines rather than solely within the siloed space of exercise science, the colleague said.

As a Center for Engage Learning Scholar, she has focused her work on making sure faculty and universities provide neurodiverse students with an equitable experience, which has extended and expanded the theme of inclusivity that runs through her research. “Her dedication to the art of �þ��� is deep and her scholarly achievements are innovative and have made a substantial contribution to enhancing �þ��� experiences for students,” a colleague from another institution wrote in support of her nomination for the award. “She is the rare scholar with tremendous capacity for achieving high levels of productivity in their discipline while simultaneously elevating and deepening research on engaged �þ��� and learning in higher education.”

Another colleague from a different institution noted that Ketcham has created resources that allow others to access her research, ideas and practical solutions. “Whenever I am faced with an experience or scenario in my own scholarship and �þ���, I often find one of Dr. Ketcham’s resources to help support next steps in the work,” the colleague wrote. “She is no doubt continuously impacting the field of Exercise Science in all aspects and I look forward to her next steps and the ways they will improve our science and scholarship.”

Ketcham is the 24th recipient of the Distinguished Scholar Award, which recognizes a faculty member whose research has earned peer commendation and respect and who has made significant contributions to his or her field of study.

Periclean Award for Civic Engagement and Social Responsibility

Assistant Professor of Biology Jessica Merricks

With the mission of raising the level of civic engagement and social responsibility of the entire campus community, Project Pericles is a major force behind Elon’s reputation as a national model of engaged learning.

Few at the university best exemplify Project Pericles’ mission better than Assistant Professor of Biology Jessica Merricks as she has been a tireless advocate on the matter of public education about clean drinking water throughout central North Carolina.

Merricks’ service within the Elon community embodies the ideal of contributions that foster ‘the wholeness of our students’ educational experience’ as a founding member of the Advancing Equity Requirement (AER) advisory committee, as an innovator in the biology curriculum and as a core team member of an externally-funded initiative to develop a pipeline for high-achieving, high-financial need STEM majors from Alamance Community College to Elon.

“We believe that Dr. Merricks deeply embodies excellence in all the qualities that the Periclean Award seeks to recognize,” a group of colleagues wrote in support of Merricks.

As a resident of Pittsboro, North Carolina, Merricks discovered that her community’s drinking water was contaminated after an ambiguous letter from the City of Pittsboro was included with a water bill in 2019. Teaming with another Pittsboro resident, Merricks co-founded Clean Haw River, an advocacy group committed to educating the public about the risks of drinking contaminated water. Clean Haw River also seeks to “act as the liaison between the scientific community and water users; demand accountability from local, state and federal agencies; and advocate for local, state and federal drinking water policies and regulations.”

Merricks has been key in bringing the drinking water contamination story to Elon and engaging Elon students in this crucial and ongoing advocacy work.

With the numerous guest lecture appearances in various Elon courses, Merricks partnered with Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies Kelsey Bitting to craft a six-lesson unit of interdisciplinary curricular materials to teach high-school and �þ��� students about PFAS chemicals (a group of chemicals used to make products that resist heat, oil, stains, grease and water) from a broad range of scientific and societal perspectives (e.g., environmental science, chemistry, medicine, economics, policy, social justice).

One student involved in the unit wrote that “interacting with Clean Haw River was really meaningful to me because it made me realize the power I could have to change things and it starts with small actions like talking to people about these issues and giving them a voice.”

Another student wrote about their experience, saying, “Creating the infographics for this project allowed me to better understand PFAS as contaminants in general, but also within Pittsboro. I was shocked when I found out that the Clean Haw River project was interested in uploading these infographics to their Facebook, for I never would have thought something I created would reach an audience beyond my classmates.”

Since arriving at Elon in 2018, Merricks has led the revision of the non-majors biology curriculum to create a more engaging, meaningful and inclusive course experience. She led the development of an integrated lab-lecture course that now serves as a model for the revision of the Introduction to Environmental Science lab-lecture sequence.

Merricks also plays a significant role in the $142,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to support a pathway for students to transfer from the Early College Program at Alamance Community College to Elon to pursue bachelor’s degrees in biology, chemistry, computer science, engineering, environmental studies, mathematics or physics.

“I never intended to be an activist or an advocate,” Merricks said during her acceptance of the Periclean Award. “I realized that I don’t need to be an expert to speak up about problems when they exist. … You just have to stand.”

Merricks is the 21st recipient of the Periclean Award for Civic Engagement and Social Responsibility, which is given each year to a member of Elon’s faculty or staff whose community service exemplifies the ideals of Project Pericles.

Steven and Patricia House Excellence in Mentoring Award

Director of International Student Services Kristen Aquilino

Director of International Student Services Kristen Aquilino embodies �þ���’s mission of transformation of the mind, body and spirit of students. Through rich intellectual exchange, focusing on the common good and respect for differences and personal integrity, Aquilino “lives these values and …they are integral to her mentorship practice,” a colleague wrote nominating Aquilino for the House Excellence in Mentoring Award.

“She aims to enter every encounter with humility and intentionality,” the colleague continued. “This approach to mentorship is empowering and students are thriving.”

From guiding students in extreme adventure-based settings such as climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, to a walk and talk around Lake Mary Nell and everything in between, Aquilino has steadily crafted opportunities in both classroom and social-cultural settings to engage in mentorship.

Aquilino arrived at Elon in 2014 and has made her presence felt throughout campus as she’s helped create courses in partnership with colleagues in the Student Professional Development Center.

“You could say that Kristen is the epitome of social-emotional intelligence. She is a gifted observer of the dynamics within and between people. She engages with those around her in an intentional way and has the gift of being able to de-center herself from her perspective,” a colleague wrote recommending Aquilino for the House Excellence in Mentoring Award.

“She’s good at helping people understand and crystallize their strengths because she has a great understanding of the power of words and uses them very intentionally. She also has the gift of sharing words of encouragement liberally in ways that help people understand their strengths and be inspired to grow,” the colleague continued.

An alumnus closely involved with an organization of which Aquilino was an advisor said she was a constant source of wisdom and optimism as he navigated his college experience. Inspired by her to pursue a career relating to intercultural communication, immigrant advocacy and higher education, the student said Aquilino has been “transformative” for his professional ambitions.

“To put it simply, my life would look very different if Kristen was not such a central part of my academic experience. I am beyond grateful to have worked with Kristen over the last several years and I am more than confident that she will continue making a meaningful impact in countless students’ lives,” the alum said.

Aquilino is the fourth recipient of the Steven and Patricia House Excellence in Mentoring Award. The award is supported by a gift from Executive Vice President Steven House and his wife, Patricia, to celebrate excellence in student mentoring, one of the markers of quality that has fueled Elon’s reputation as the national leader in engaged, experiential learning.

“Every single person in this room is responsible for the success of our international community,” Aquilino said. “They are such a vibrant, resilient, dedicated community and it’s an honor to serve them. None of us have done it alone, including me. So to all of you who have been a part of that journey, thank you.”

The panel, sponsored by the affiliate organization The Association of Historians of Nineteenth-Century Art (AHNCA), was organized and chaired by Hyoungee Kong, Assistant Professor Faculty Fellow of Art History, NYU Shanghai.

Panelists Ty Vanover (UC Berkeley), Annie Ronan (Virginia Tech), Damien Delille (Université Lumière Lyon 2, France), and Karen Schiff (Fellow in Criticism, Core Program, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston) presented a diversity of papers suggesting ways to queer 19-century histories and art objects, to which Ringelberg responded both individually and by drawing connections across the panel as a whole. Focusing on the importance of negotiating the relation of representation to embodiment and enfleshment, Ringelberg traced a less ontological, if not de- or non-ontological, approach to identity in the papers, as well as a decrease in focus on temporality versus materiality in comparison to prior scholarship in these areas, and encouraged future analysis of the way artworks and subjects were raced, classed, and given a life stage, as well as sexed and gendered, in the particular projects presented.

Gatti’s article focuses on three extraordinary portraits of Bishop Sigebert of Minden (1022–36) that appear in a set of nine liturgical manuscripts, or books, he had commissioned. Inspired by the unusual presentation of Sigebert’s portraits in an exhibition, Gatti argues that the portraits were more than repetitive, honorific re-presentations of a specific historical figure. Instead, the portraits should be seen as a series of thresholds through which Sigebert and his successors entered into the sacred space of the liturgy. Shaped by the development of liturgical iconographies of episcopal authority and heightened by changes in clerical education that emphasized the physical body as representative of inner virtue, the portraits exemplified the process of becoming a “good” bishop.

Gatti’s research shows how these images helped present and reinforce the relationship between Church and community, providing a lens for us to better understand how one of the most important political and religious forces functioned at that time.