Three faculty members from the Pierce College Department of Art & Architecture participated in the 2012 National Endowment for the Humanities Institutes Grants for the summer of 2012.
Adjunct Instructor of Art Nina Berson, Instructor of Art Constance Moffatt, and Architecture Professor John Maloney, all of whom are part of the Pierce College Art & Architecture Department.
The grants that were awarded to the professors were created in favor to support faculty development programs in the humanities for college and university teachers.
Each professor will be studying a different concept of humanities.
The three different subjects will be Mesoamerica in Mexico and the Southwest, Leonardo and science in Florence, and lastly Etruscan Urbanism in Italy.
The institute’s goal is to broaden the understanding of a subject to expand its humanities teaching.
Led by teams of scholars, the professors will be guided in their complex subject.
Berson will be working on site in Mexico, Arizona, and New Mexico between June 17 and 23.
She will study the relationship between Pre-Columbian Mexican Indians and those that are founded in the southwest in “Mesoamerica and the Southwest: A New History for an Ancient Land.”
Likewise, Maloney will conduct his studies in Orvieto, Florence and Rome from June 5 through 25.
He will be examining early urban planning and construction methods in “The Legacy of Ancient Italy, the Etruscan and Early Roman City.”
Moffatt will research how Leonardo Da Vinci joined art and science, instituting her studies in Florence, Italy between June 25 and July 13.
“Learning more about what they already teach in the courses they offer makes me as a student give more credibility to their explanations and their view on the concept itself,” Pierce student, Mark Wong, said.
Nevertheless the National Endowment for the Humanities research that will be conducted by the professors are sponsored by the Community College Humanities Association and the University of Virginia Kunsthistorisches Institute in Florence.
“I think that this is an a amazing opportunity for the professors and students as well because what they learn through their studies will eventually be taught in the classrooms,” aspiring art major, Diana Velasquez, said.