Plugged In: Associate Professor Engages Students by Staying Connected to Scholarly Discourse

Dr. Karen Carter, an associate professor in the Art History and Master of Arts in Visual and Critical Studies programs at Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University (KCAD), knows that teaching is only part of an educator’s job.

Dr. Karen Carter

To keep herself engaged and her classroom experiences engaging, Dr. Carter spends a great deal of time connecting to scholarly conversations and expanding her professional network outside of the walls of KCAD.

In October of 2016, Dr. Carter presented her paper “Confronting Racial and Sexist Stereotypes in Design History” at the 2016 Southeastern College Art Conference in Roanoke, Virginia.

Later that same month, Dr. Carter presented her paper “Paris, Capital of Nineteenth-Century Lithography: The Centenaire de la Lithographic Exhibition within a Colonial Economy,” at the 2016 Nineteenth-Century French Studies Colloquium. Held at Brown University, the event convened 19^th century French studies scholars from around the world under the theme of “La Terre,” or “The Earth.”  

In February of 2017, Dr. Carter traveled to New York City to attend the 2017 College Art Association Conference, billed as the largest international gathering of professionals in the visual arts. Attendees had an opportunity to join in more than 250 sessions and meetings on a diverse array of topics pertaining to art scholarship and practice. Dr. Carter’s trip was made possible by a Timme Travel Grant awarded through Ferris State University.

In March of 2017, Dr. Carter published a review of the exhibition Hippie Modernism: The Struggle for Utopia in the journal Design and Culture. The exhibition, held at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, examined the collision of art, architecture, and design with 1960s and 70s counterculture.

“For me, teaching and research have always gone hand-in-hand. My teaching at KCAD has influenced me to shift my resarch and publishing interests to design history and visual culture, and my research invigorates my teaching of those topics,” Dr. Carter explains. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to go to conferences and to­­­­ travel for research.”  

Learn more about KCAD’s Art History program at kcad.edu/arthistory.

Learn more about KCAD’s Master of Arts in Visual and Critical Studies program at kcad.edu/mavcs.