Nancy Rushforth

A faculty member at Utah Valley State College since 2000, Nancy has written about the correspondence of Mary Hallock Foote, used by Wallace Stegner for his novel Angle of Repose. This research as resulted in two recent conference presentations and an invitation to submit a book proposal to a university press. In the summer of 2007 she worked in a newly opened archive at the University of Illinois. She has developed courses in Integrated Studies that include: “Art and Wilderness: The contribution of 19th Century artists to the development and protection of the American West” and "Death and Dying: Philosophies and Practices in Community Health, Sociology and Psychology Applied to an Examination of Art Works Created As Expressions of Grief and Loss.” Her work in Death Studies has resulted in a professional certification as a Thanatologist. Professor Rushforth organized and chaired the establishment of a film series on the Utah Valley State Campus to promote film as art, and to examine film as social commentary.  Through the work of a committee comprised of faculty and students from the UVSC student life organization, the series purchased 10 films with full rights and licensure. These films can now be used by faculty in their classrooms and can be viewed by students from across the campus regardless of whether or not they are enrolled in those classes. She presented “What’s Art for a Woman: an Exploration of the Roles of 19th Century Women” at a session of the Western American Literature Conference; and was a co-author for Writing About the Arts and Humanities, with  David Paxman, Dianna Black and Stephen Jackson, Simon & Schuster Custom Publishing, 1996, Needham Heights, MA. At UVSC, she organized an interdisciplinary conference on “Art and the Landscape” with art critic Lucy Lippard as the keynote speaker. She teaches humanities courses, serves as section head for Humanities, and has directed nearly 200 senior theses.