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Fran Altvater

Fran Altvater headshot

Interim Dean Hillyer College; Associate Professor of Art History

Humanities, Dean's Office for Hillyer

Hillyer College
860.768.4055 H 259A
Education

PhD, Boston University

MA, Boston University

BA, Swarthmore College


Fran Altvater is interim dean for Hillyer College and an assistant professor of art history. She teaches Introduction to Fine Arts I, II, and III.

"Hillyer students often start unsure and blossom during their time with us," says Altvater. "I really like seeing what happens when the complicated combinations of time management, skill building and support, and curiosity come together for a student. I really appreciate seeing them feel accomplished at the end of a class, a semester, or a degree program."

Altvater's research interests include:

  • Medeival art and architecture
  • Medieval theology
  • Museum studies
  • Issues in collegiate teaching

Incarnation, Initiation, Institution: Sacramental Theology and the Decoration of Baptismal Fonts. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Forthcoming. 

“Chores, Computation, and the Coming: Calendar Images and Romanesque Baptismal Fonts”.  Studies in the Visual Culture of Baptism. Collected papers from panels presented at the 40th and 41st International Congresses on Medieval Studies. Ashgate Publishing. July 2013.  

“Saintly Bodies, Mortal Bodies: Hagiographic Decoration on English Twelfth Century Baptismal Fonts”.  Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art and Architecture. http://peregrinations.kenyon.edu/. Vol. III/No. 4, Autumn 2012.

“Barren Mother, Dutiful Wife, Church Triumphant: Medieval Illuminations of Hannah in I Kings”. Different Visions: A Journal of New Perspectives on Medieval Art.  http://differentvisions.org/, Issue 3, October 2011.