McColl, Washington College Art Department Chair, Delivers Prestigious Dillenberger Lecture in Berkeley, Cal.

Chestertown, MD — Washington College is pleased to announce that Donald A. McColl, Chair of the Department of Art and Art History, Nancy L. Underwood Chair in Art History, and Director of the Kohl Art Gallery, was recently selected to deliver the prestigious annual Jane and John Dillenberger Lecture in Visual Arts and Religions at the Graduate Theological Union (GTU) in Berkeley, California, co-sponsored by the Center for the Arts, Religion and Education.

Dr. McColl presented "'Sign of the Times': The Cleveland Marbles and the Visual Cultures of Pre-Constantinian Christianity" as the 2008 Dillenberger Lecture at the GTU in December, based on work he has carried out in Turkey and elsewhere over the past two decades, on one of the most remarkable finds in the area of Early Christian art of the latter part of the 20th century.

The annual Dillenberger lecture focuses on issues vital to ongoing discussions among historians, artists and theologians. Past lecturers have included art historians Leo Steinberg, Peter Selz, John Cook, and Diane Apostolos-Cappadona; architects and artists Richard Meier, Christo, James Melchert, Stephen DeStaebler, and Eliza Linley; and theologians Margaret Miles and Ted Gill.

"While daunted at the prospect of lecturing at the GTU, I soon relaxed and enjoyed lively interactions with an extraordinarily diverse group of people, including graduate students from a number of disciplines and faculty from a variety of area institutions," said Dr. McColl. "I was especially pleased to be able to meet Professor Emeritus Jane Dillenberger, whose name the lecture bears and whose work has long been a model for my own. The entire experience, I'm sure, will long remain a highlight of my personal and professional lives."

The Graduate Theological Union is the largest and most diverse partnership of seminaries and graduate schools in the United States, pursuing interreligious collaboration in teaching, research, ministry, and service.

GTU students can pursue the Ph.D., Th.D., and M.A., plus two joint Ph.D. programs with the University of California, Berkeley.

The union comprises the largest theological faculty in the United States, including renowned experts in Christian spirituality and liturgical studies as well as critical and creative scholars in 14 other areas.

The GTU offers a Center for Jewish Studies, a Center for Islamic Studies, and two programs—the Asia Project and Women's Studies in Religion.

Dr. McColl earned his B.A. at the University of Western Ontario, his M.A. at Oberlin College, and his Ph.D. at the University of Virginia, with postdoctoral study at Northwestern University. He has held fellowships at the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and Harvard University's Dumbarton Oaks Library and Research Collection, Washington, D.C.

Washington College was founded in 1782 under the patronage of George Washington and is the first college chartered in the new nation.