This past month, Dr. Melissa Hyde and School of Art + Art History graduate students represented the University of Florida at the Southeastern Society for Eighteenth Century Studies (SEASECS) conference. Art history, which has been historically underrepresented at this conference, had a strong presence this year. There were three different art history sessions, which were all presented by PhD students or alumni of the graduate UF art history program.
“I was incredibly of proud of our students. I hope that art history (and particularly UF art history) will continue to be visible at this important professional conference,” said Hyde, professor of art history and director of graduate studies.
Hyde presented two plenary addresses at the conference, which she described as “a professional honor.”
“It gave me an opportunity to air some new work I have been doing that explores connections between French women artists and the American Founding Fathers,” said Hyde.
Hyde was joined by a number of art history graduate students, including Maura Gleeson, who also presented at the conference.
“Having our students give presentations of their scholarship at professional conferences heightens the visibility of our program and UF’s profile as a Research I university,” said Hyde.
This is Gleeson’s second time participating at SEASECS. Her presentation focused on a series of portraits sent from France to Virginia in the early nineteenth century.
“The opportunity to present my research to others is exciting, and the panel discussions following our presentations are always interesting and thought-provoking,” said Gleeson, who is finishing her PhD at UF this April. “I think it's extremely important for UF to have a strong presence at these conferences, as we all work extremely hard to produce high quality research.”
To learn more about art history at UF, please click here.
