Congrats to 2017 College of Fine Arts Academic Leaders Frieze and Scandone

Congratulations to Art History students Mya Frieze and Kelly Scandone, who have both received the 2017 Undergraduate Academic Leadership Award for the College of Fine Arts. Every spring, each college at FSU recognizes one or two outstanding students who contribute to the University through achievement, service, or organizational leadership involvement. At this year’s Awards Ceremony in April, Art History seniors, Frieze and Scandone, were both selected for their remarkable academic achievements and their service as student leaders. Both are members of the Garnet and Gold Scholar Society, recipients of Art History’s Helen J. Beard Undergraduate Scholarship for Excellence in the Major, and officers of the Undergraduate Art History Association and the College Leadership Council. The list of their individual achievements and awards are extensive, and both point to specific experiences at FSU that shaped their professional character and helped them define their particular career paths.

Mya Frieze managed to make extensive contributions in the university and the community while maintaining her high level of scholarship throughout her time at FSU. She interned at the Museum of Fine Arts and the Tallahasee Museum, worked at Strozier Library and the YMCA, volunteered at the Morse Museum of American Art and at her church, and in her student leadership roles served as Assistant Editor of the College of Fine Arts’ magazine SIX (2016-17) and Editor-in-Chief of the UAHA ‘Zine. She also participated in FSU’s International Programs, studying in Florence, Italy in the spring of her Junior year, and traveling to London for the Spring Break program in 2015. Those experiences were essential in shaping her outlook and her future plans, as were the opportunities for upper-level undergraduate research at FSU:

One of the things I have enjoyed most about studying art history is that I can always find something I want to dig deeper into. I particularly enjoy researching Early Irish Manuscripts and other works of medieval art, and through my classes I have been able to do a lot of in-depth research in that area. I even had the opportunity to present a research paper on the Book of Kells, developed in a seminar class, at undergraduate research conferences.

Frieze graduates Summa Cum Laude this spring, and in the fall will begin a dual degree M.A. Art History/M.L.I.S program at the University of Wisconsin – Madison.

Kelly Scandone has been a well-known tour guide on the FSU campus since 2014, serving as a Visitor Center Ambassador, Trainer, and Group Tour Coordinator while maintaining her outstanding academic record and student organization leadership. She served as the Creativity Chair on the FSU Student Council for Undergraduate Research and Creativity and as an Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program Leader. Scandone also studied in Italy and London on FSU’s International Programs, and interned in the Samsung Digital Discovery Centre at the British Museum in the summer of 2016. She has had the opportunity to publish essays in student publications and present resarch at conferences, and she commends the expansive research opportunities in Art History at FSU, as well as the breadth of subject areas:

Some of my favorite classes were non-Western courses (Visual Cultures of the Americas and History of African Art). These courses expanded my understanding of art and architecture, its meaning, and how art is being influenced and developed over time. It was through these classes that I came to focus on cross-cultural influences in art during my studies. I have had the opportunity to research the influence of Nordic and Western European dress in the costume design of Disney’s Frozen, Middle Eastern and Western European influences in Venice’s Palazzo Ducale, and the influence of European art in Sapi-Portuguese Ivories in West Africa. There are so many opportunities for investigation in Art History, making the possibilities for research endless.

Scandone is also graduating Summa Cum Laude, and will enter the M.A. program in Arts and Cultural Management at King’s College London in the fall. We are proud to have been a part of these students’ journeys!