Many times, professor Annemarie Carr is described in a paragraph-long blurb listing her awards and publications. While those paragraphs are filled with her accolades, they bypass many of the characteristics that make Carr what many call an “SMU legend.”
It is for this reason that SMU will take this weekend to honor the University Distinguished Professor of Art History in the Comini Lecture Series: “The Afterlife of Forms: A Symposium in Honor of Annemarie Weyl Carr.” The symposium will pay tribute to her career with presentations from colleagues and former students from around the nation, all honoring over 30 years of teaching and scholarship, in this, her last year at SMU.
Professor Carr’s SMU career began in 1972 after she received her masters and Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. “I am grateful to SMU for giving me the opportunity to be all that I could be,” she says.
Fondren Library recently set up a display also in honor of Carr that includes photographs of her travels and many of her publications. The display, located in the main entrance lobby of Fondren Library, also features several of her colleagues writing of their time spent with Carr.
“Now, 36 years later, upon her retirement from this university she is an institution in herself,” writes Alessandra Comini, University Distinguished Professor of Art History Emerita, for which the lecture series is named.
Perhaps Carr’s success in the classroom has come from her realization that knowing something and being able to communicate it are two distinct ideas. “I love my scholarly work, but its importance remains contingent on communicating it. To validate it I have to keep trying to be a good teacher,” says Carr in her teaching philosophy, which is also featured in the Fondren display.
She states that the personal contact with students is most important. “Teaching is about individuals… One must always have enough time to focus on the situation a student presents – even if the result is to judge the situation totally dismissible.”
Carr has been recognized many times for her work as a scholar and is even considered to be one of the leading scholars of Byzantine and Medieval Arts Studies. However, it is obviously the culmination of her studies with her life as a teacher that have made her the legend so many see her as.
As Janis Bergman-Carton, associate professor and chair of art history states, “One of the most important duties of a faculty member beyond the teaching of his or her content area is to provide students with a model of intellectual curiosity, integrity and social responsibility. I don’t know of anyone who does that with more graciousness, generosity and joy then Annemarie Carr.”
The humble professor Carr responds, “Having a symposium in my honor is just amazing. My students have done such wonderful things in their careers that I feel very little by comparison.”
“The Afterlife of Forms: A Symposium in honor of Annemarie Weyl Carr” will take place at the Meadows Museum on Saturday from 5 to 8 p.m. and Sunday from 9 to 5 p.m. Both events are free, though reservations are required. The Fondren Library display honoring Prof. Carr will end March 21.
