Department of the History of Art

UCR’s Department of the History of Art has created a new student research travel grant. Started in 2021, the Françoise Forster-Hahn Graduate Travel Award will allow students to extend their research experience outside of campus and fund their trips to research to any country.

The grant is sponsored by a former UCR History of Art professor, Françoise Forster-Hahn, who retired after 35 years of instruction and research. Forster-Hahn taught 19th and 20th century European art history and helped establish the UCR/California Museum of Photography in Riverside. In the past, Forster-Hahn also made contributions to the Richard G. Carrott Travel Award, which supports one History of Art graduate or undergraduate student to travel.

“I always felt that it was essential if you do study the visual arts, that you go and actually look at what you study,” Forster-Hahn said. “I encourage students to study culture in general and become knowledgeable about other countries, cultures, and languages.

The $1800 Françoise Forster-Hahn Graduate Travel Award will be presented each spring quarter used to fund independent research traveling during the summer. Although it is primarily for graduate students, undergraduate students who demonstrate an interest in historical art and commitment to research through an honors thesis or research project are also encouraged to apply.

The inaugural award has been awarded to Homer Charles Arnold, a History of Art Ph.D. student researching new media, and emergent globalism of the 1960s and 1970s. Arnold is planning on using the research funds for archival research at the Smithsonian.

UCR students can be awarded one of three travel awards in the History of Art department. Award recipients are able to use the funds to go to any country and connect with established professions from the region.