Jessica Sponsler, Ph.D.

Jessica Sponsler
Division/Department
School of the Arts, Communication and Global Studies
Visiting Assistant Professor of Art History
Contact Information
Wolf Hall, Room 401

Meet Jessica Sponsler

Dr. Jessica Sponsler graduated from the University of Pennsylvania cum laude with a B.A. in art history. She completed her M.A. and Ph.D. in art history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill under the direction of Dr. Dorothy Verkerk with a focus on medieval Iberia. She has worked as full-time faculty at the Pennsylvania College of Art & Design and adjunct faculty at Elon University, NC State University, Durham Technical Community College, Lincoln University, and La Salle University. She is currently the Visiting Professor of Art History at York College of Pennsylvania. 

Dr. Sponsler has presented on Late Antique ivories, Visigothic metalwork, and the Girona Beatus as well as art historical pedagogy focused on applications of art history, decolonization, introducing new technologies to the study of art, and student engagement. She recently completed an NEH-funded workshop at the Visual Media Workshop at the University of Pittsburgh entitled "Teaching Art History with AI."

  • Art History, Ph.D.
    University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  •  Art History, M.A.
    University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • Art History, B.A.
    University of Pennsylvania
  • ART 204: Survey of World Art I
  • ART 205: Survey of World Art II
  • ART 387: The Art of World-Building
  • ART 388: History of Photography
  • ART 395: Art After 1960
  • “Paying for the Vision (and the Work!): Labor-Based Grading in the Art History Classroom, SECAC, Richmond, VA (October 2023)
  • “Bringing More Inclusive Pedagogy to the Art and Art History Classroom,” College Art Association, New York, NY (February 2023)
  • “Thinking Beyond the (White) Knight in Shining Armor: Rethinking the Medieval Art Survey,” SECAC, Baltimore, MD (October 2022)
  • “In the Pure Womb of the Church: the Baptism of Christ in the Girona Beatus and the Theological Dilemmas of 10th Century Iberia,” Illuminating the Dark Ages: Manuscripts, Art, and Knowledge in the Early Medieval World (c. 600-1100), University of Edinburgh, Scotland (June 2018)
  • “Placing Liberal Arts at the Core of the School Mission and Culture” panel, Consortium for the Liberal Education of Artists (CLEA) Peabody Institute, Baltimore, MD (March 2018)