I am thrilled to present this first Arts & Humanities Legacy Award to Professor Jennifer Shaw, who has been a faculty member in the Department of Art and Art History since 1999, tenured since 2004, and Full Professor since 2009.
The Legacy Award honors a faculty member who is not only an outstanding teacher-scholar but also a faculty member whose service and leadership has left a lasting impact on a program, department, or a school.
Dr. Jennifer Shaw’s scholarly legacy is robust and impressive, with widely cited books and articles including Exist Otherwise, The Life and Works of Claude Cahun (2017), Reading Claude Cahun’s Disavowals (2013), “Symbolism in the Visual Arts, Literature and Music” (2005), Dream States: Puvis de Chavannes, Modernism, and the Fantasy of France (2002), “Imagining the Motherland” (1997), and “The figure of Venus, Rhetoric of the Ideal and the Salon of 1863” (1991) just to name a few.
Jennifer Shaw has taught thousands of students over the years in classes such as Art and the Emergence of Modernity, The History and Theory of Photography, and Arts and Literature: Critical and Creative Readings and Renderings.
The number of students in her SETEs who say “this is the second class I have taken with Jennifer” or “I took a class that she taught last semester and I enjoyed it so much that I registered for another one she was teaching” or “Jennifer is an awesome teacher” is almost comically large.
Jennifer’s new students also regularly express surprise and delight.
“Never thought I would enjoy Art History but thanks to professor Shaw I want to learn more”
“This was my first art history course. I really enjoyed the class. Dr. Shaw is an excellent professor and I would highly recommend this class to all students.”
“This course has given me a greater appreciation for Impressionism. Originally, I had signed up for the course in hopes of studying the art of the early 19th century. Impressionism was something I was never especially fond of, believing its primary motivation was the study of light in studying modernity, the avant-garde, and other philosophical issues surrounding that art. I can honestly say that Impressionism is far more than the cute stationery used by grandmothers. I really enjoyed the course!”
Always, praise: “She is an amazing professor. Really in tune to what her students need.”
Beyond the outstanding teaching and scholarship, no less lengthy and enduring are Jennifer’s multiple and various service contributions to the Art Department, from shaping and guiding a curriculum, advising and mentoring hundreds of students, establishing a culture of academic rigor, mentoring faculty, and the many thankless tasks involved in laying the foundation for a department’s future success and sustainability. Jennifer’s legacy includes her service on searches that resulted in three of the five permanent faculty members in the Art Department. She has taught senior colleagues how to construct sites in Moodle and then Canvas. When faculty departures have left students without an advisor she always stepped in to fill the need.
Assistant Professor Dr. Letha Ch’ien writes: “Jennifer Shaw is the reason I came to Sonoma State. The first thing she did when I arrived on campus was offer to make me a cup of tea, which she did right then and there in her office using an electric kettle. When she handed me the tea, she pressed a collection of four Luna bars in my hand, assuring me they were gluten free. Once I realized I would be fed, I was happy to join the department.”
Emeritus Professor of Art History and Museum Studies Michael Schwager writes: “Jennifer Shaw is a consummate teacher-scholar who mentored scores of Art History students, guided many lengthy student writing projects, and developed numerous courses all while publishing several books and lecturing nationally and internationally on her work. She was as passionate and rigorous in her teaching as she was about her research. Jennifer was a widely-respected colleague and a strong and steady voice in the Art Department who played a central and vital role in shaping the Art History program over her two decades at SSU.” -- Dr. Hollis Robbins, Dean of Arts & Humanities