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Simpson Honored with Award for Exemplary Achievement from SECAC

Dr. Pamela Simpson, Ernest Williams II Professor of Art History at Washington and Lee University, was recently recognized by the Southeastern College Art Conference (SECAC) with the Award for Exemplary Achievement. She was presented with SECAC’s highest honor at its annual meeting held October 17-20 in Charleston, W.Va.

Noting Simpson’s lengthy and distinguished service to SECAC, President Donald Van Horn, Dean of the College of Fine Arts at Marshall University said, “Dr. Simpson has given unselfishly of her time and expertise to SECAC for many years. She has helped shape SECAC into the organization it is today, and I don’t think there is anyone who has been more steadfast in his or her support of SECAC. We are grateful to Dr. Simpson and it is fitting that we recognize her in this way.”

Simpson joined W&L in 1973 and was chair of the Art Department for over 10 years. She is the author of Cheap, Quick and Easy: Imitative Architectural Materials, 1870-1930; co-editor of Monuments to the Lost Cause, Women, Art and the Landscapes of Southern Memory; the co-author of The Architecture of Historic Lexington; and author of many other articles, essays and publications.

She was president of Vernacular Architecture Forum, president of the Southeast chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians and board member of the Society of Architectural Historians. Simpson also received the Outstanding Faculty Award from the Virginia State Council on Higher Education.

An active member of SECAC since 1976, Simpson has participated in every annual meeting since then. She served as president and has held the second vice president position from 1993 to the present. Simpson was the editor of the organization’s peer reviewed journal, the Southeastern College Art Review, from 1979-1992, and served as guest editor of a special issue of the journal focusing on the New Deal Era.

She received her bachelor’s degree from Gettysburg College, her master’s degree from the University of Missouri in Columbia and her Ph.D. from the University of Delaware.

The Southeastern College Art Conference is a non-profit organization that seeks to promote the visual arts in higher education. SECAC facilitates cooperation and fosters on-going dialog about pertinent creative, scholarly and educational issues among teachers and administrators in universities, colleges, community colleges, professional art schools, and museums. Its membership comes from across the United States and abroad.