Dr. Helen Rufus-Ward University of Sussex Profile
Helen has a very wide range of art historical knowledge as a result of studying the subject at BA, MA and DPhil level – and owing to a life-long passion for the subject.
Helen taught and lectured on BA Art history courses at the University of Sussex for seven years, delivering regular lectures as well as creating new lecture courses to encourage interest in classical, medieval and Byzantine art. Lecture courses such as Before Modern Art successfully encouraged a significant number of students to go on and study these earlier periods at postgraduate level.
Helen taught the 2nd year BA period course From Statues to Saints: Pagan and Christian Art in Late Antiquity, 313-565AD for four years. This course focused on the material culture of the Late Antique and Byzantine period which links with her chosen specialism.
As well as lecturing on Byzantine art Helen has also taught on more contemporary art history courses including three years teaching the Visual Cultures BA courses. This involved applying recent theoretical methods and approaches to a variety of different periods and genres of art, together with improving students’ study skills (e.g. essay writing and referencing). These courses allowed Helen to draw on some of her own research topics (e.g. Victorian collectors) as well as affording the opportunity to plan, write, deliver and assess course material appropriate to the subject (this included selecting primary and secondary readings to build student knowledge base).