Terrier Volume 78, Number 1 - Spring 2014 | Page 10

Faculty Spotlight

Jennifer Wingate
By Meghan Lewit

Jennifer Wingate found her passion at an early age. She discovered art history while still in high
school and learned to love looking back in time while moving ahead in her academic work.

I

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felt like I was getting away with murder, it
While leading groups through the exhibits, she
seemed too good to be true,” said Wingate, an
experienced another “Aha!” moment: she realized
Assistant Professor of Fine Arts at St. Francis
that she loved discussing and teaching others
College. “Ever since that moment that I realized it
about art. After graduation, Wingate worked at
existed and combined my interests, I went for it.”
the Whitney Museum, and followed that with an
Her first book, Sculpting Doughboys: Memory,
intensive nine-month internship at the Brooklyn
Gender, and Taste in America’s World War I
Museum. She went on to pursue her Ph.D. at Stony
Memorials, was published in 2013. Inspired by her
Brook University, and joined the faculty at St.
research as a postdoctoral fellow at the Smithsonian
Francis in 2007. She is also the assistant director
American Art Museum, Wingate explores the impact
of the American Studies program at the College.
of the hundreds of public sculptures of American
Wingate encourages her students to become
Professor Wingate is also co-director
World War I soldiers — known as “doughboys”
more active observers of their environment, taking
of the Study Abroad Program.
— which arose from community efforts in the
classes to visit monuments, museums, and galleries
1920s. The response to the sculptures at the time
throughout the city, and participating in a recent
highlighted cultural tensions over gender roles as well as the role of
three-year grant program enabling SFC classes to study the archives
art in society, Wingate said.
at the Brooklyn Historical Society.
While the sculptures weren’t endorsed by the art world, the public
She noted that many students think that creating and curating history
valued them and community desire created opportunities for women
is done by others but when they use their cell phones to capture images
sculptors who wanted to participate in civic art. Some of these sculpand post them to social media sites that’s exactly what they’re doing. “It’s
tures still remain in NYC, although a few have been destroyed or stolen
a good lesson for the students in how history is made,” she said. “They
over time.
are participating in making history in this very public, interactive way.”
“People don’t really see them. We walk by them but we don’t see
Her next project is an article on displays of presidential portraits in
them,” Wingate said. “When you first look at them they don’t seem very
American homes focused on Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal.
extraordinary, but the more you think about them and the more you
She is also developing interdisciplinary classes on the History of
learn about them, the more interesting they are.”
Photography and Feminist Performance, Photography and Video, and
Wingate, who grew up on Long Island, said she inherited her
commemorative practices in art and poetry with English Professor
intellectual curiosity from her mother.
Wendy Galgan.
“My mom would get in the car and drive us to NYC and we’d go to a
“Art is one of those things that can inspire awe and wonder. She really
museum or a movie or a concert. She was very influential in that she
helps the students to see what she sees in the art,” Galgan said.
was always very interested and culturally curious,” Wingate said.
Wingate believes that the intersection of art and history provides a
“She was a working single mother but she made that effort.”
never-ending supply of directions and topics to pursue.
Wingate received a bachelor’s degree in art history from Williams
“Teaching what you love, what you’ve been excited about your whole
College in Massachusetts where she interned at the college museum.
life, you can’t really compare that to anything.”

$50,000 Grant to Support Risk
Management Coursework

S

pencer Educational Foundation, Inc. has awarded St. Francis College a
$50,000 grant to develop new modules that will teach Risk Management
to entry level and upper level management and finance students at the
College. The grant is funded by RIMS, the Risk Management Society.
“The Foundation, through a generous grant from RIMS, has taken a
leadership role in expanding risk management and insurance education,”
said Spencer Educational Foundation Chairwoman Peggy Accordino who
added that risk management is a vital part of any business plan. “Anyone
who is going to start a business needs to learn about risk management.”
The first four modules will help new Management majors learn about basic
concepts of insurance and risk management, careers in the field, types of
insurance, providers and regulation as well as measuring financial performance. The upper level modules focus on insurance contracts and loss
exposures, advanced risk management, life and personal lines insurance,
and commercial insurance.

8  |  ST. FR ANCIS COLLEGE TERRIER  |  SPRING 2014

Spencer Educational Foundation Programs Director Angela Sabatino,
Management Professor John Dilyard, President Brendan J. Dugan, Spencer
Educational Foundation Chairwoman Peggy Accordino, and Dean for
Academic Programs and Development Allen Burdowski.