A.L. McClanan, PhD

My Teaching

I am an Art History Professor of  at Portland State University, the academic home to many non-traditional students. My classes in topics such as Medieval Monsters are often the highest-enrolled upper level classes in Art+Design, where I aim to combine rigor with engaging course content. Most of my teaching is online, and you can learn more about my work in the development of an open source textbook, collaboration with WikiEdu,  AI learning modules, and game-based learning on my other site focused on my public humanities/digital humanities work.

My Training

I earned both my Art History PhD and second M.A from Harvard, and before that studied at the Johns Hopkins University (M.A.) and Columbia University (A.B., Ancient Studies and Art History). While in grad school I also had the honor of being an Exchange Scholar at the University of Chicago, and taking on several fascinating side gigs, such as being Harvard University's Keeper of Coins for several years.

My current art historical thinking is informed by this range of experiences. Archeological work at ancient and medieval sites in Turkey, Jordan and Israel also taught me to appreciate a much wider range of material culture, and so you see my current griffin project includes many objects long neglected by art historians.

Portland State Faculty Profile Site