Skidmore faculty get a personalized tour of the And Therefore I Am exhibition.
Faculty seminars play a key role in supporting innovative use of the Tang Museum by Skidmore faculty from a range of disciplines. Featuring group travel, seminar readings and discussion, guest speakers, and opportunities for individual travel to museums of special interest, faculty seminars function as a think-tank for new pedagogies and a seedbed for faculty-museum collaborations of all kinds and durations.
From 2003 to 2006, a grant from the Henry R. Luce Foundation brought artist and MacArthur Fellow Fred Wilson to Skidmore for three spring semester faculty seminars designed to stimulate faculty use of the new museum and build an understanding of how teaching in and with museums departs from traditional academic classroom practices. Titled Object, Exhibition, Knowledge, it proved a popular way to create enthusiasm for museum-based teaching and initiate faculty into the use of museums as sites for their own teaching.
In 2009 with support from an Andrew W. Mellon challenge grant, the Tang initiated a new Mellon Faculty Seminar, building on the success of the Luce Seminar. Continuing the model of faculty travel, peer dialogue, and exploration of museum- and object-based teaching, the Mellon seminar is co-chaired by Associate Professor Mimi Hellman, Art History Department, and John Weber, Dayton Director of the Tang.