HAA Professor Kelsey Gets Tenure

Robin E. Kelsey, formerly an associate professor specializing in the history of photography, has achieved tenure in the history of art and architecture department.

At Harvard since 2001, Kelsey has been recognized by students and faculty for his devotion to teaching and his innovative scholarship.

“He is really and truly the complete package—an amazing scholar, beloved teacher, and a really generous and congenial colleague,” said fellow HAA professor Jennifer L. Roberts.

Pedagogically, Kelsey is known for his vibrant lectures and close attention to students.

“He’s a fantastic professor,” said Vanessa J. Dube ’10, who has taken multiple classes with Kelsey. “He is able to communicate his expertise into a passion for teaching and he cares a lot about undergraduate life.”

Kelsey’s core class, Literature and Arts B-24: “Constructing Reality: Photography as Fact and Fiction” consistently attracts around 250 students. According to the Q Guide, among Literature and Arts B courses, only “Designing the American City” had a higher enrollment in 2007-2008.

In 2006, Kelsey received the Roslyn Abramson Award, which annually honors two assistant or associate professors in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences for excellence in undergraduate teaching.

In addition to the history of photography, Kelsey’s research focuses on landscape and American Art. His first book, “Archive Style: Photographs and Illustrations for U.S. Surveys, 1850-1890,” examined American visual culture through the angle of 19th century geological and geographical surveys.

Kelsey is working on a new book about photography and chance, he said.

“His work takes the scholarship on photography to a new and different territory,” Roberts said.

The combination of both attentive teaching and innovative thought may have prompted his appointment to tenure, Kelsey said.

“My understanding is that scholarship is the top priority [in selection] but that teaching receives greater consideration than it did in the past,” he said.

Kelsey has also held a number of administrative posts in his time at Harvard. A former attorney, he is currently a member of the Faculty Council, the governing body of FAS.

“It is often assumed that people don’t start having departmental responsibility until after they are tenured. He is already on an insane number of University committees,” Roberts said.

Kelsey’s administrative role will likely grow as a tenured professor—he was also recently appointed Director of Graduate Studies for HAA.

But, Kelsey said, the extra work will not detract from his time in the classroom.

“My teaching philosophy and the nature of my courses will remain the same,” he said.

—Staff writer Madeleine M. Schwartz can be reached at mschwart@fas.harvard.edu.