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 of Art History at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD). Her scholarship focuses on art, architecture, design, and visual culture from the nineteenth through the twenty-first centuries. Her research addresses Midwestern architecture, historic preservation, modernism, sustainability, and the art and design history of video games. Her work has appeared in scholarly books, journals, and professional conference proceedings.
Szczesny-Adams innovative contributions to art and design history are exemplified through her original research on video games and digital technology as forms of creative expression. At MIAD, she developed and teaches pioneering courses that place video games within an art and design historical framework, helping to shape an emerging area of scholarship, and anticipating students’ evolving interests to explore these forms of artistic practice. In addition, she maintains an active interest in pedagogy, exploring new approaches to teaching art history for contemporary learners.
She has taught at all levels of the art history curriculum and developed a wide range of courses, including Design, Creativity, & Conscience; History of Video Games before 2005 and History of Video Games after 2005; Frank Lloyd Wright; Built America: Adaptation or Innovation; and The City of Modernity. She has led multiple MIAD study-abroad programs in Florence and Paris and works with local organizations to promote public understanding of Milwaukee’s architectural heritage. Recently awarded a 20-year service distinction, she has actively contributed to numerous institutional committees and frequently has taken on leadership roles that support curriculum development, faculty governance, and strategic initiatives.
Explore “Technology and Creative Behaviors,” an exhibition essay by Chris Szczesny-Adams.
- 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