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Melissa R. Kerin, associate professor of art history at Washington and Lee University, has been selected as the next Roger Mudd Professor of Ethics and director of the university’s Roger Mudd Center for Ethics.
The appoi ntme nt takes effect July 1. Kerin is to succeed Karla Murdock, who will conclude her three-year appointment and return to her full-time faculty role as the Jo M. and James M. Ballengee Professor of Cognitive and Behavioral Science. Kerin will be the academic center’s fourth director, following Murdock (20212024), Charles S. Rowe Professor of Law Brian Murchison (2018-2021) and Professor Emeritus of Philosophy Angie Smith (20132018).
“I am excited Melissa will serve as the next director of the Mudd Center,” said W&L Provost Lena Hill. “Melissa’s previous collaborations with the Mudd Center and her current, multifaceted examinations of moral responsibility and ethical action position her to bring rich, philosophical conversations to Mudd Center programming. I look forward to the ways Melissa’s leadership will build on the dynamic work presently unfolding at the center.”
Kerin, who is on sabbatical for the current academic year, first arrived at W&L in 2011 as an assistant professor of art history. She was promoted to associate professor in 2017 and served as the program head for the Middle East and South Asia Studies program from 20202023. Kerin holds a bachelor of arts degree in women’s studies from Trinity College (Connecticut), a master of theological studies from Harvard Divinity School and a Ph.D. in the history of art from the University of Pennsylvania.
While attending Harvard Divinity School, Kerin was introduced to “hermeneutical strategies at the heart of liberation theology, biblical feminist studies and Buddhist ethics.” This field of study exposed Kerin to issues related to social justice and ethics from numerous temporal and cultural perspectives. Her investigation continued through her doctoral program at the University of Pennsylvania, where she engaged in the complex world of cultural heritage, especially concerning museum codes of ethics. This training gave her the foundation to think with ethical frameworks in her research and pedagogy.
In her time at W&L, Kerin has crafted her courses to address moral responsibility and ethical action. For instance, students in her Questions of Ownership class engage in prodigious ethical matters surrounding practices of acquiring cultural heritage and its many associated issues. She also worked closely with the Mudd Center in 2017 to organize The Ethics of Acquiring Cultural Heritage Objects, a conference that brought together the disciplines of archaeology, art, art history, economics, ethics, law and museum studies to investigate the role of Western art markets in perpetuating looting systems and black markets.
“As a vibrant hub generating multidisciplinary conversations, the Mudd Center is such a special place on our campus,” said Kerin. “I am honored and grateful to continue the lineage of inquiry into thick ethical concerns. Angie Smith laid a strong foundation that Brian and Karla have continued to expand and develop in ways that are attentive to the needs of the community and responsive to national tenor. I am bursting with eagerness to work closely with the Mudd Center team and advisory board to create dynamic programming that will provide opportunities for all of us – students, staff, faculty and the broader community – to engage at the personal and communal levels, both theoretically and practically.”
