Associate Provost;
Professor of Art History;
Bradford and Christine Miller Mishler Art History Chair
At Berea College since 2003
Contact Information
Lincoln Hall, 322
CPO 2204
Email: mckiernan-gonzaleze@berea.edu
Phone: 859-985-3181
Office Hours
To set up an appointment, please contact Tiffany Lindsey (lindseyt@berea.edu).
Courses
- ARH 121: Survey of Western Art I
- ARH 124: Survey of Western Art II
- ARH 130: Studies in World Art
- ARH 210: Topics in Islamic Art and Architecture
- ARH 230: Topics in Latin American Art
- ARH 242: Medieval Art
- ARH 249: Topics in Asian Art
- ARH 255: 20th and 21st Century Art
- ARH 340: Seminar in Art History
- ARH 450: Advanced Research in Art History
Degrees
- B.A., Wheaton College, 1992
- M.A., The University of Texas at Austin, 1997
- Ph.D., The University of Texas at Austin, 2005
Research Programs
- Art and architecture of Medieval Iberia (Modern Spain and Portugal)
- Women’s patronage in the Middle Ages
- Cross-cultural artistic practices in the modern world
- History and trajectory of art biennials
- Artists and travel in the Global South, 1880-1945
Biography
Dr. Eileen McKiernan González begins her work as Associate Provost in the Fall of 2021 after eighteen years with the Department of Art and Art History at Berea College, having served as Professor along with various roles including Chair and Director of Visual Arts, Curator of the Berea Art Collection and Director of the Doris Ulmann Galleries. She has been an active supporter of study abroad opportunities through the Berea International Summer Term program and the Kentucky Institute for International Studies and has taught Berea students on five continents. The intersection of art, culture, and identity center her teaching and research, as does affirming students’ sense of connection with the global community.
Dr. McKiernan González is a graduate of Wheaton College, Massachusetts, with a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors in Art History and in International Relations. Upon the completion of her undergraduate studies, she spent an extended research year as a Fulbright-Hays Fellow in Bogotá, Colombia, followed by an Internship in Museum Diversity at The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Her Master of Arts in Art History at The University of Texas at Austin focused on modern Latin American art; her thesis considered the rise of abstraction in Colombia during La Violencia (1948-1962). Her Doctorate, also from The University of Texas at Austin, explored the architectural and religious patronage of Iberian queens in the late 12th century. Her teaching and research have continued to balance medieval and modern artistic expression, with a focus on the Global South.
As Associate Provost, Dr. McKiernan González supports General Education, the Hutchins Library, Convocations, and our Academic Centers (bell hooks center, Carter G. Woodson Center for Interracial Education, Center for Excellence in Learning through Service, Center for Teaching and Learning, Francis & Louise Hutchins Center for International Education, and the Loyal Jones Appalachian Center).
Recent Publications
“On Absences: The Erasure of Black Women in the Cantigas de Santa María (Biblioteca de El Escorial MS T.I.1 and Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze B.R. 20),” Quimbandas: Explorations of Identities, 1/1: Celebrating the Lives and Times of Belle da Costa Greene (2020) 19-42, https://quimbandas.org/index.php/QUIMJRNL/article/view/5/5
“Decisiones finales: reinas catalano-aragonesas y su patronazgo religioso y fúnebre,” In Reinas e infantas en los reinos medievales ibéricos: contribuciones para su estudio, Actas del Congreso Internacional, Santiago de Compostela, 21-23 de mayo 2014. Edited by Silvia Cernadas Martínez and Miguel García-Fernández, Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, 2018, pp. 175-202.
“Reception, Gender, and Memory: Elisenda de Montcada and her Dual Effigy Tomb at Santa María de Pedralbes,” For Reassessing Women’s Roles as “Makers” of Medieval Art and Architecture. Edited by Therese Martin. Brill Academic Publishers, 2012, 309-353.