Thank-You to Longtime Faculty Members

Thank you for your dedication

to our students! Three of Rosemont’s esteemed professors retired at the end of the fall 2021 semester after many decades of service to our community. We wish them well as they start the latest chapters of their lives!

and researched the roadside shrines, or edicole, which dot the countryside of southern Italy. Her Fulbright grant topic formed the title of one the numerous publications on these roadside shrines, “Wayside Warriors: The Roadside Shrines of Sicily.”

Dr. Waldeier Bizzarro is a prolific scholar. Over the last three years, she has published three more articles about the roadside shrines in English and Italian publications. During the pandemic, she published two articles (and delivered papers at three major conferences) on Santa Rosalia, the plague saint. One resulting publication was, “Plague in Palermo: Santa Rosalia Halts the Pathogen.”

Dr. Bizzarro’s specialty and passion is architectural history—especially the medieval! Her first ground-breaking book, published by Cambridge University Press, is entitled Romanesque Architectural Criticism: A Prehistory and is a history of the reception of medieval architecture from the 17th through the early 19th century. She has presented over 70 papers and chaired sessions at professional venues in her discipline in the last 35 years at many different venues.

Tina Waldeier Bizzarro

Dr. Tina Waldeier Bizzarro retired as full professor in the Department of History of Art and served as Discipline Coordinator and Major and Minor Advisor for History of Art for over 30 years.

Her full-time teaching career began at Rosemont after she completed her PhD in History of Art at Bryn Mawr College, where she was the Howard Lehman Goodhart Fellow in Medieval Studies from 1978 through 1982. An undergraduate Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Pittsburgh and Hamilton College, she earned her BA in French and Italian Language and Literature, with a minor in History of Art. Her love of art, language, and people was the combination of interests that led her to travel widely with Rosemont and Villanova students in travel/study courses she developed over the last 20 years—to France, Italy, Mexico, Scotland, Spain, England, Holland, and Ireland.

Dr. Waldeier Bizzarro was awarded over 20 Pew Grants, Connelly Grants, and other professional development grants for scholarly research and conference presentations and received the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching in 2007. Dr. Bizzarro was selected as a Fulbright Scholar in Sicily in 2006 and traveled to Italy where she photographed “The students of Rosemont College have been at the center of my life and consciousness for the last three and one-half decades; you are part of me, and I hope to continue my association with all of you.”

Richard Leiby

Professor Richard Leiby began teaching at Rosemont in 1988. Dr. Leiby taught many history courses, including: Foundations of Western Culture, Mediterranean World, History of Russia, Emergence of Modern Europe, Europe Since Napoleon, 19th and 20th Century Seminars, Europe Since 1945, twosemester History of Germany sequence, Nazi Germany, and Methodology.

While at Rosemont, he received the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching in 2000, the Connelly Foundation Grant for research abroad (in former East Germany) in 1997, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Scholarship for Summer Seminar at the University of Pennsylvania in 1990, and the Pew Memorial Trust Fund Grant for research in 1989.

Prior to his teaching career at Rosemont, he was assistant professor at Eastern Michigan University, a visiting assistant professor at Kutztown University, and a visiting instructor at Franklin and Marshall College.

Dr. Leiby received his PhD in History from the University of Delaware in 1984.

“It has been an exciting and fun experience teaching young women and men on the verge of learning who they are and what they can accomplish on their way to following their dreams.”

“I feel blessed to have been accepted as a colleague by my fellow faculty members, and I hope that my contributions to the College's mission will be long-lasting. What I will remember most are the students and how lucky I was to have a chance to share my knowledge of History with them.”

Patricia M. Nugent

Professor Patricia Nugent has been a member of the Rosemont community for 55 years. She began her teaching career at Rosemont College in 1966 and was promoted to associate professor in 1975.

Professor Nugent taught painting and drawing at both the introductory and upper levels, the upper-level Senior Seminar classes, and taught and created Options in Art to help students see the various career options within studio arts. She served as the director of the joint Summer Study in the Arts Program in Siena, Italy in 1977 and has served on various College committees, including long stints on the Curriculum Committee and the Rank, Tenure, and Compensation Committee (RTC).

He earned his MA in History from the University of Delaware, and his AB in History from Albright College.

A widely regarded European history scholar, Dr. Leiby is the author of the book, The Unification of Germany 19891990, and more than 20 book chapters, reviews, and academic papers about Germany, Central European History, World War II, and more.

He served as the Director of Strategic Planning and Assessment, beginning in 2009 until 2018. He has also served on many College committees, including Faculty Council and RTC. In addition,

Professor Nugent received her BFA degree from the University of Pennsylvania in a coordinated program with the Pa. Academy of the Fine Arts and her MFA from the University of Guanajuato in Mexico. Each were attended on full scholarship. She did advanced study at Temple University, the University of Pennsylvania, Academia de Belle Arti, Florence, Italy, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Professor Nugent has exhibited both locally in area galleries, such as the Woodmere Gallery in Philadelphia, Rosemont College’s Studio Faculty Exhibit, the Painted Bride Gallery, the PA Academy of the Fine Arts Juried show, and the Rittenhouse Square Juried Exhibit, the

Dr. Leiby co-directed the Ferris Program, which brought Japanese college students to campus every August and sometimes for semesters or years as visiting students.

Dr. Leiby is a member of numerous organizations, such as the American Historical Association, German Studies Association, the Conference Group for Central European History, and the Philadelphia Conference for Modern European History, in which he was elected to executive council from 19901992, 1995-1997, and 2000-2002. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and galleries in Mexico, such as Galleria Zaguan and in San Miguel de Allende.

In addition to teaching, Professor Nugent has been the Director of the Rosemont College Art Gallery since 1994. In 2018, it was renamed The Patricia M. Nugent Gallery in recognition of her commitment to Rosemont College.

Professor Nugent is well known in Philadelphia art circles and, as a result, many artists know Rosemont College’s gallery. She has always maintained close contact with her former students, and they often exhibit their work at the gallery.