The department congratulates Sarah Andyshak (PhD 2015), who just two weeks after her successful dissertation defense this spring accepted the position of Assistant Professor of Art History at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in Belton, Texas. Sarah joins a long line of FSU Art History graduates in academic and professional positions well suited to their backgrounds and interests. UMHB is associated with the Baptist denomination, and is attended by about 3,700 students.
Sarah defended her dissertation, “Christ and Exegesis: Visual Interpretation in the Moralized Bibles, circa 1225-1235,” in April 2015. Sarah’s research examines how the three-volume illustrated Bible created for Louis IX of France employs the four-fold method of scriptural interpretation, popular during the Middle Ages, in both visual and textual format. Close analysis of the manuscript’s paintings reveals that the images present additional interpretations of scripture beyond those described the corresponding textual exegeses. The dissertation was made possible with the assistance of a departmental Mason Dissertation Award and a Library Administrative Assistantship at FSU’s London Study Centre.