Dr. Benton - Distinguished Professor

Dr. Janetta Rebold Benton, a Fine Arts professor known for her fresh and insightful view of art of the Renaissance and Middle Ages, was recognized as a Distinguished Professor of Pace University at a ceremony in Pleasantville December 7, 2004.

The designation of Distinguished Professor recognizes a faculty member who has attained the rank of professor and has clearly demonstrated “continuous, extraordinary, and widely recognized” contributions as a scholar and teacher, and service to the academic community. It requires independent recommendations from nationally and internationally known scholars in the candidate’s field.

An internationally known and highly respected scholar on the art of the Renaissance and Middle Ages, Professor Benton is a regular lecturer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian Institution, The Cloisters, The National Gallery of Art, The Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and elsewhere in America and abroad.  Dr. Benton is widely published, and her most recent book is Medieval Mischief – Wit and Humor in the Art of the Middle Ages, Sutton Publishing Limited. 

At Pace, Dr. Benton is Director of the Pforzheimer Honors College on the Pleasantville campus. Through great leadership and innovation, she was instrumental in bringing the honors program to its status as a College this past fall.

She has organized many student trips to the Cloisters, the Met, cultural offerings in Westchester, such as PepsiCo’s sculpture garden, the Bronx Botanical Gardens, and the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts. Having lived in Paris, she has lectured to Pace students on site in France in cathedrals and chateaus, giving students an un-paralleled viewpoint into works of art found there.