Dr Athene Reiss
Senior Lecturer in History of Art and Global Partnerships Lead
School of Education, Humanities and Languages
Role
Athene Reiss teaches History of Art with a particular focus on architectural history structured around the abundant building examples available in Oxford and based on a passion for enabling students to take an understanding and appreciation of buildings into their daily lives. Drawing on her background as an environmental educator she has also developed an innovative team-taught module on the relationship between art and the natural world that allows for a wide-ranging exploration of intersections between the environment and all manner of art from across the globe. One of her most enjoyable extra-curricular activities is supporting a student-led History of Art Discussion Group.
As Global Partnerships Lead for Humanities and Social Sciences, Athene facilitates and supports activities to internationalise Brookes' reach and the international experiences of its students. She has promoted Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) across the University, and, with colleague Eric White, initiated an impactful cross-disciplinary COIL project with the University of São Paulo to enable students to create 360° Virtual Reality narratives in any subject.
She is developing, implementing and leading a Year Abroad module for the schools of Humanities and Social Sciences. This ensures that all students studying those subjects have the opportunity to study or work abroad between their second and third years at university. As part of this initiative, Athene works to develop exchange partners with universities around the world.
As Global Partnerships Lead for Humanities and Social Sciences, Athene facilitates and supports activities to internationalise Brookes' reach and the international experiences of its students. She has promoted Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) across the University, and, with colleague Eric White, initiated an impactful cross-disciplinary COIL project with the University of São Paulo to enable students to create 360° Virtual Reality narratives in any subject.
She is developing, implementing and leading a Year Abroad module for the schools of Humanities and Social Sciences. This ensures that all students studying those subjects have the opportunity to study or work abroad between their second and third years at university. As part of this initiative, Athene works to develop exchange partners with universities around the world.
Teaching and supervision
Courses
Modules taught
On the History of Art course, I regularly teach:
- Making and Meaning in Architecture (HART4004)
- Art and the Environment (HART 4007)
- Oxford Buildings (HART5006)
- Independent Study Modules
- Dissertation Modules
Some years, I also teach:
- Field Work in Art History (HART5004)
- Reading Art History (HART4002)
Research
Athene's research interests take two different directions. Her work on sabbatarian wall paintings explored how images functioned visually, narratively and devotionally in late medieval England and convinced her to challenge the widely held view that monumental art can be pigeon-holed as 'books for the illiterate'. She has also researched and published on topics in environmental education and interpretation based on a strong belief that the sector would benefit from a more evidence-based approach to effective public engagement.
Publications
Further details
In August of 2024, Athene took up a semester-long Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence post at Columbus State University (CSU) in Georgia, USA. Objectives of the residence included further consolidation of the relationship between Oxford Brookes and Columbus State universities and the introduction of the 'Art and the Environment' module and approach to CSU. This has provided an opportunity to further develop the flexibility and expansiveness of the topics covered as a model that can be replicated elsewhere to suit different contexts.