Yonsenia White receives Edward S. Diggs Teaching Scholars Award
Yonsenia White of Christiansburg, Va., associate professor of art in the College of Architecture and Urban Studies at Virginia Tech, recently received the university's 2008 Edward S. Diggs Teaching Scholars Award.
Sponsored by the Virginia Tech Academy of Teaching Excellence, the Diggs Teaching Scholars Award was established in 1992 and is presented annually to three Virginia Tech faculty members to recognize exceptional contributions to the teaching program and learning environment. A cash award is given to each recipient and their respective academic departments. New Diggs Teaching Scholars are invited to lead the Diggs Roundtable, a series of presentations and a discussion relating to their innovative teaching, the year after receiving the award.
The award is supported by an endowed fund established through an estate gift from the late Edward S. and Hattie Wilson Diggs. Mr. Diggs was a 1914 graduate of Virginia Tech.
For more than 10 years, White has taught studio art courses in basic drawing, two and three dimension fundamentals, found object sculpture, installation art, performance art, and professional studio practices. Her outreach and research interests have lead her to interdisciplinary projects and teaching opportunities in the Women’s Studies Program, the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, and the Department of Management in the Pamplin College of Business. She consistently presents papers on her teaching pedagogy in national and regional art conferences and gives lectures by and about artists from marginalized and underrepresented groups whose artwork engages in personal, political, and social activism.
She has exhibited her mixed media work in over forty juried, group and solo shows in New York City, Chicago, San Francisco and other cities throughout the country. Her work has been privately collected and exhibited in arts centers, alternative spaces, and in both private and university galleries.
White received her bachelor’s degree and Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Virginia Tech, and a Master of Fine Arts degree from Rutgers University.
