Mary Ausplund Tooze Endowed Visiting Professor of Islamic + Ancient Art

Portland State proudly showcases scholars in Ancient and Islamic Art History through the Mary Ausplund Tooze Endowed Visiting Professor of Islamic + Ancient Art.

This program is designed to engage the wider community through public lectures and enrich the opportunities of our students through in-class guest presentations and discussions. We aim to bring to our campus both distinguished scholars with a global reputation as well as scholars at the beginning of their careers.

Upcoming

German publication showing Islamic tile motifs.

May 2024

Claire Dillon, PhD Candidate at Columbia University

Public Lecture: "Lost in Translation: Misread Arabic and other misadventures in the modern histories of Medieval silk"

Student Outreach Opportunity: Student discussion with the author about recent scholarship, "Making the Medieval Modern: The past and future of the Cathedral of Mogadishu"

Image: Friedrich Fischbach, "Sarazenische Gewebe. 12. Jahrhundert." Published in Friedrich Fischbach. Die wichtigsten Webe-Ornamente bis zum 19. Jahrhundert. Volume 1. Wiesbaden: self-published, 1901. Digitized by Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg.

Werewolf depicted in stained glass from Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris.

June 2024

Lynn Ramey, Vanderbilt University Professor of French, Faculty Director of the Center for Digital Humanities at Vanderbilt University

Public Lecture: "Demons and Pygmies: Determining humanness from the ancients to today"

Student Outreach Opportunity: Prof. Ramey, widely known for her work in the digital humanities, will offer a workshop on history-based storytelling for PSU students on Twine, an open-source digital tool that allows users to create interactive narratives in the 'choose your own adventure' style.

Image: Werewolf depicted in stained glass, from the Cathedral of Notre Dame, Paris.

Past Tooze Scholars

Mosaics and stucco ceiling inside a Byzantine church

October 2023

Mariachiara Gasparini, Assistant Professor, University of Oregon

Public Lecture: "Unraveling the Threads: Exploring the Significance of Central Asian Textiles in Medieval Islamic and Byzantine Art."

Student Outreach Opportunity: Seminar discussion of selections from her book, Transcending Patterns: Silk Road Cultural and Artistic Interactions through Central Asian Textile Images.

Image: The Palatine Chapel (Cappella Palatina), Palermo, Sicily.

Detail of bas relief sculpture showing Naram-Sin standing on defeated warriors

December 2022

Marian Feldman, W.H. Collins Vickers Chair in Archaeology and Professor of History of Art and Near Eastern Studies, Johns Hopkins University

Public Lecture: “The Material Charisma of Akkadian Kingship: Bodies and Fabric in Early Mesopotamian Art.”

Student Outreach Opportunity: Seminar discussion of her essay, "Style as a Fragment of the Ancient World: A View from the Iron Age Levant and Assyria."

Image: Victory Stele of Naram-Sin (detail), Akkadian Empire, 2254–2218 BCE. (Louvre, Paris)

David Roxburgh sits at a table with Islamic objects from the PSU Special Collections

June 2022

David Roxburgh, Department Chair and Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Professor of Islamic Art History at Harvard University

Public Lecture: “Ethics and Aesthetics in Baysunghur’s Books: Art and Literature in 15th-Century Herat.”

Student Outreach Opportunity: Timurid Art and Architecture: The City of Herat in the 15th Century mini-course.

Image: David Roxburgh viewing objects in the Special Collections at PSU's Millar Library.