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Jansen retires after three decades at UC Santa Cruz

By Donna M. Hunter, Chair, History of Art & Visual Culture

In fall 1975, Virginia Jansen arrived at UCSC as an assistant professor to teach medieval art and architecture for the Art Department (or Art Board, as it was then known). At that time UCSC had no freestanding program in art history, never mind one in history of art and visual culture!

Virginia Jansen taught her last course — “Campus Planning and Architecture” — this spring.

In spring 2006, Virginia Jansen, a full professor for many years, taught her last course. Fittingly, it was "Campus Planning and Architecture," a course that, in her words, "focuses on understanding the Santa Cruz campus and campus planning and architecture in general." Professor Jansen says that teaching the class was a "wonderful experience," not only because she is completely fascinated by the topic but also because a good number of the students had studied with her before. The first time she taught the course was also a wonderful experience because she taught it with her colleague, the eminent architectural historian and cultural critic Reyner Banham. The students in their undergraduate research seminar furnished information and ideas for an exhibition at the Sesnon Gallery at Porter College, "The First 20 Years: Two Decades of Building at UCSC," which resulted in an informative publication available in the library. (A few additional copies are available by request to the HAVC office.) Another special memory are the lectures that Dean McHenry, UCSC's founding chancellor, gave on more than one occasion to students in "Campus Planning and Architecture."

In addition to teaching about the UCSC campus plan, Professor Jansen served for 20 years on bodies that oversaw the development of the campus (Campus Physical Planning Committee, 1986-1993, and Design Advisory Board, 1993 to the present). She is "pleased to have played a role in architect selection committees and the review of the (campus) physical fabric."

Professor Jansen thinks that an exciting aspect of teaching at Santa Cruz has been and continues to be the "freedom (faculty have) to teach in our research areas and to introduce undergraduates to our research passions." She is grateful for the funds that made it possible to bring fellow scholars to Santa Cruz to lecture to students and faculty alike, funds supplied not only by the History of Art and Visual Culture Department (HAVC), but also by Porter and Cowell Colleges, the History Department, and the Pre- and Early Modern Studies research cluster. She is also grateful for her training as an architectural historian and the continuing education afforded by a life in academe, factors that have enriched her travels immensely.

In her 30-year career, Professor Jansen reports having had inventive and creative students from start to finish. She has found special gratification in chairing many individual majors, especially in architectural studies and working with colleagues from other departments (such as Art and Environmental Studies) on the committees sponsoring these majors.

Professor Jansen is looking forward to retirement for the time it will afford her for concentrated and uninterrupted research and writing. She has found teaching very time-consuming and summers too short with sites to visit to make much progress on her major writing projects. She is preparing two books, one on the architecture of the reign of King Henry III of England (1216 -1272), which she refers to as "Salisbury Cathedral to Westminster Abbey," and one on medieval urban architecture. She is also looking forward to having more time for her photography and her family – George, Pete, and Lexi.

Friends, colleagues and former students are invited to make a contribution in Professor Jansen's honor to a fund that will allow the History of Art and Visual Culture Department to make an annual award to a senior HAVC major who has excelled in the study of either architecture or pre-modern European art and visual culture. Checks may be made out to "UCSC Foundation" and mailed to Arts Development, Porter College D-164, University of California, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, indicating that the gift is for the HAVC Award Fund in Virginia Jansen's honor. Credit card gifts may be made online at giveto.ucsc.edu

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