In Memoriam: Joanna E. Ziegler, Professor of Visual Arts

Professor Joanna E. (Jody) Ziegler, a faculty member at Holy Cross since 1982, passed away on Thursday, Nov. 4, after an illness.

Well-known for her commitment to students and for mentoring them as their graduate studies and careers progressed, she was the recipient of the College’s Distinguished Teacher of the Year Award, and the Arthur J. O’Leary Faculty Recognition Award, which is given to senior faculty members who make a special contribution to the College through their teaching, scholarship and service.

She was serving as the College’s first Edward A. O’Rorke Professor in the Liberal Arts when she died.

Professor Ziegler received multiple grants to support her work on ethics and contemplative practice, and was a leader in introducing reflective habits into art history classes and the wider curriculum. A specialist in late medieval and early modern religious art and architecture, she lectured throughout the United States and Europe. She was also co-editor, with Bruce T. Morrill, S.J., and Susan Rodgers, professor of anthropology at Holy Cross, of Practicing Catholic: Ritual, Body, and Contestation in Catholic Faith and Practicing Mortality: Art, Philosophy, and Contemplative Seeing, which she co-authored with Christopher Dustin, professor of philosophy.

Among her many other published works is “Wonders to Behold and Skillful Seeing: Art History and the Mission Statement,” [PDF] originally published in Conversations on Jesuit Higher Education (2000), and later reprinted in A Jesuit Education Reader (Loyola Press, 2008). The essay is regularly referenced by Holy Cross students in their practice of reflection and journaling.

On Thursday, Nov. 11, the College’s 12:05 p.m. Mass in the Mary Chapel (lower level of St. Joseph Chapel) will be offered in Professor Ziegler’s memory. At her request, funeral services are private.

A full obituary will appear in Holy Cross Magazine. Details regarding a gathering in her honor will be announced at a later date.