Jae Emerling, an associate professor in the Department of Art and Art History, is one of this year’s finalists for a significant UNC Charlotte honor – the Bank of America Award for Teaching Excellence.
Emerling and the other finalists — Anita Blanchard, associate professor of psychology and organization science; Matthew Davies, professor of mechanical engineering and engineering science; Janos Gergely, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering; and Daniel Jones, associate professor of chemistry — are being featured in Inside UNC Charlotte prior to the naming of the 2016 recipient on Friday, Sept. 9.
According to Emerling, education is a way of “renewing a common, shared world, a truly transformative experience that improves the lives of students in more ways than one could ever imagine.”
He teaches courses on contemporary art, history of photography, modernism, critical theory, art history methodology and aesthetics. He also is the director of the Honors Program in the College of Arts + Architecture. Teaching both studio artists and art history majors, Emerling has as a goal to present the history of modern and contemporary art so that students understand a work of art’s particular cultural and historical context, as well as the larger theoretical questions regarding representation, ethics and temporality.
Eldred Hudson, chair of the Art and Art History Department, stated, “Delivering the information in a way that respects and challenges a variety of student perspectives requires an instructor who is committed to the task and genuinely interested in stimulating and sustaining students’ investigation of the world of art and its role in a global, contemporary society.” Emerling embodies these qualities.
Senior Hannah Barnhardt, who is studying digital media, stated, “Dr. Emerling has exposed me to ideas and spurred conversations that have been a source of so much inspiration for me as a student. He has taught me how to talk about art, how to approach experiencing the event of an artwork and how all of these concepts form a machine, a pre-existing framework that all working artists must understand in order to interpret their place — or make a place for themselves that doesn’t exist already — within that framework. Understanding this idea has been invaluable for me as a student and as a working artist.”
Shortly after arriving at UNC Charlotte in 2007, Emerling attended the Yale University Teachers’ Institute as a member of a delegation comprised of University faculty and Charlotte-Mecklenburg public school teachers. It was at this event that the Charlotte Teachers’ Institute (CTI) was developed. In 2015, he shared his research with public school teachers at an “Exploding Canons” public lecture hosted by the CTI at the McColl Center for the Visual Arts. His involvement in the CTI is one way he collaborates with public school teachers to help provide primary and secondary school students with a superior education.
As a University professor, colleague, parent and friend, Emerling is motivated to teach a new generation about the beauty, complexity and social importance of studying the history of art. As a result of his tireless dedication, art history majors that he has mentored have received scholarships to graduate programs at prestigious institutions internationally.
He received a Ph.D. in art history from the University of California, Los Angeles.