The University of Maryland welcomes Dr. Joseph Williams, who will join the Architecture Program this fall as an assistant professor. An expert in medieval architecture in Italy and architecture of the Islamic West, Dr. Williams received his PhD in Art, Art History & Visual Studies from Duke University. While at Duke, he was the recipient of the Phyllis W.G. Gordan/Lily Auchincloss/Samuel H. Kress Foundation Pre-Doctoral Rome Prize. His dissertation research examined how the increased commerce and knowledge-sharing through communication of the 12th and 13th century transformed large-scale church design and construction in the Mediterranean, using the Church of S. Corrado (1100-1300 CE) in Molfetta, Italy as a case study.
Dr. Williams not only possesses a deep understanding of historic and Medieval architecture, he brings critical expertise in archaeological research methods to MAPP, with emphasis on digital methods such as Geographic Information Systems and digital photogrammetry.
“We are thrilled that Dr. Williams will be joining the Architecture Program this fall,” said Brian Kelly, AIA, Professor and Area Chair of the Architecture Program. “Dr. Williams brings the potential to completely revolutionize how we teach architectural history, one of the foundational curricular components of our program.”
In addition to completing his Ph.D., Dr. Williams has spent the past spent five years as the project manager of the Kingdom of Sicily Image Database for Duke University’s Wired! Lab for Digital Art History, a massive digital collection of historic material and images. He also recently designed a course in global history of Gothic architecture for MIT’s Global Art History Teaching Collaborative.
Dr. Williams earned a Master’s Degree in Art History at Courtauld Institute of Art, with a specialty in Gothic architecture, and a Bachelors in Art History from Bates College.