EDUCATION: University of Virginia, Ph.D.; University of Virginia, MA; University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, MA; University of North Carolina, BA.
Chris Szczesny-Adams, Ph.D. is a Professor in Art History at MIAD. Dr. Szczesny-Adams specialty is scholarship involving architecture, design, and art from the 19th to 21st centuries. Her research, writing, and professional presentations address Midwestern architecture, historic preservation, modernism, sustainability, and video games. Her scholarly work has been published in books and journals.
In addition to her expertise in traditional art history, Szczesny-Adams is also an innovator in the field. Her current research analyzes video games and technology as a popular medium of creative expression, making her one of the first to teach courses on the topic in the discipline of art & design history. Beyond her own art historical scholarship, she is interested in art history pedagogy and its continuing transformation to serve the students of the twenty-first century.
She has developed and taught a wide range of classes, including Design, Creativity, & Conscience, Art & Design History of Video Games before 2000, Art & Design History of Video Games after 2000, Frank Lloyd Wright, Built America: Adaptation or Innovation, and The City of Modernity, among others. She has also led MIAD study abroad programs in Florence, Italy, and Paris, France, and works with local organizations to teach about Milwaukee’s architecture.
- Read an article The Mark of Mix by Chris Szczesny-Adams
- Read the article Milwaukee’s Forgotten Architects, featuring Chris Szczesny-Adams
- Read the chapter “Edward Townsend Mix: Books and the Professional Architect in Nineteenth Century Milwaukee,” in American Architects and Their Books. by Chris Szczesny-Adams