Erin Giffin's research in art history identifies and explores new questions about Renaissance religious sculpture. “Her work opens up the possibility for an entirely new history of Renaissance religious sculpture, and even of pre-modern European sculpture more generally,” says dissertation adviser Stuart Lingo, Associate Professor of Art History. “It has been an honor to watch her development into a tremendously promising scholar.”
Giffin has presented her research at high-profile conferences in Berlin, Chicago, Vancouver BC, Cincinnati, and Florence, Italy. At the UW she taught three courses independently, earning stellar student ratings and the De Cillia Award for Teaching Excellence from the School of Art + Art History + Design. Ivan Drpic, Assistant Professor of Art History, observed Giffin teach during a seminar in Rome and says, “Her energy, enthusiasm for the material, and passion for art history were such that students simply loved her.”
This fall, Giffin will head to Europe as a postdoctoral fellow at the Institut für Kunstgeschichte at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich, Germany — a fellowship usually awarded to European scholars. “The Institute’s decision to break with standard practice and make the extra investment to bring Erin from the States is a remarkable testament to her rare qualities,” says Lingo.
— Excerpted from "Renaissance Art to Theoretical Physics: 2017 A&S Graduate Medalists," Perspectives, June 2017.