Art History Faculty Member Wins UC Award

Art history's Theresa Leininger-Miller was recently named the first faculty recipient of UC's Marian Spencer Diversity Ambassador Award.

Theresa Leininger-Miller, associate professor of art history in the University of Cincinnati's College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning, was recently named the first faculty recipient of the university's Marian Spencer Diversity Ambassador Award.
Theresa Leininger-Miller and Marian Spencer
Theresa Leininger-Miller, left, and Marian Spencer.

Leininger-Miller was nominated to receive the award by four students from her courses, and a university committee determined that she met the award criteria:

  • Showing an awareness of diversity;
  • Exhibiting sensitivity to people of various cultures;
  • Evidence of helping colleagues/peers grow in the area of diversity;
  • Preparing others to thrive in a diverse global workforce.

The award is named in honor of civil rights activist and UC alumna Marian Spencer. Spencer who was instrumental in successfully integrating Cincinnati's Coney Island and the YWCA. Spencer was the first African-American elected to Cincinnati City Council (1983); the first and only woman elected president of the Cincinnati Chapter of the NAACP (1980-82); and the first African-American elected president of the Woman's City Club (1972-73).

DAAP's Leininger-Miller received the Marian Spencer Diversity Ambassador Award from Mitchel Livingston, UC vice president of Student Affairs & Services, at an April 15 university diversity conference.

Leininger-Miller also won two competitive grants from the UC Diversity Council that will allow the Art History program to hose senior African American scholars on short-term visits. The purpose will be to build bridges between UC and the community and to aid in the recruitment and retention of diverse faculty.