Visiting Assistant Professor of Art History
Saadia N. Lawton, affectionately regarded as SNL, holds a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin Madison in Art History with a minor in Latin American Studies and a certification in Material Culture Studies. She received a Master of Professional Studies from the Africana Studies and Research Center at Cornell University, and a baccalaureate degree in History with a minor in Education-Human Services from Clark University in Worcester, MA. She also obtained a Master of Public Administration from the Marxe School of Public and International Affairs at Baruch College during the one-year accelerated program as a National Urban Fellow in 2015.
SNL’s dissertation project, “Contested Meanings: Audience Responses to the Wedgwood Slave Medallion, 1787- 1839” employed a research method grounded in audience reception theory to unearth the complexities of function and meanings ascribed to iterations of the iconic abolitionist image reinterpreted by diverse communities over time. Her current research interests explore the interplay between different areas of performing arts as modes of expression, messaging, and resistance.
Her teaching experiences include the University of the Arts, SUNY-Purchase, Pratt Institute, SUNY-Westchester Community College, and Lincoln University. During her time at Lincoln, she served as the interim chair of the Visual Arts department, led her team in successful Middle States reporting, restructured, and created innovative procedural guidelines for Studio arts majors, secured funding to support student-based learning opportunities, chaired four Senior Capstone projects in Graphic Design, and liaison with the Lincoln-Barnes Foundation as the official Director of that historic partnership.
SNL has taught Survey Courses (Antiquities to Contemporary), arts of the African Diaspora (including African, African American, and Caribbean Arts), Introduction to Museum Studies, Art Theory, Criticism, and Methodology, African American Resistance Movements (History dept), and African Dance. She looks forward to adding American Art survey, Latin American Art History, and Women in the Arts to her teaching portfolio. She is currently designing a special interest course on Art and Music from 1970s to present for the Spring 2023 semester at Lycoming College.
Aside from her credentials, SNL takes pride in her footprint of international service and outreach within academia and K-12 where she developed, implemented, and secured funding to sustain arts and educational programs in Liverpool, Wisconsin, and New York that continue to this day. One example is her instrumental role as the inaugural Mellon fellow consultant for the College Art Association’s RAAMP (Resources for Academic Art Museum Professional) during her 5 years of service with the Museum Committee. Most recently, she chaired the 2021-2022 Russell B. Nye Award for Outstanding Journal
Article in the Journal of Popular Culture Popular/American Culture Association concluding a 3-year tenure of service to this committee.
She is a native New Yorker, originally from Spanish Harlem, New York. She enjoys playing tennis, swimming, dancing, listening to House Music, and spending quality time with her beloved miniature pinscher, Tini-Me (pronounced Teenie).