[PDF] Lesoon CV 01.31.2021 31 janv. 2021 Assisted in

COURTNEY LOUISE LESOON History, Theory & Criticism Section | Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture Department of Architecture | Massachusetts Institute of Technology clesoon@mit.edu | https://architecture.mit.edu/student/courtney-lesoon EducationMassachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA Doctor of Philosophy, History and Theory of Art & Architecture Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture Dissertation: "Spatializing Ahl Al-ʿIlm: Law, Learning, and the Rise of the Early Islamic City (632-1067 CE)" (advised by Prof. Nasser Rabbat)Sept 2016 - June 2023 (expected)University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI Master of Arts, Modern Middle Eastern and North African Studies Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies, International Institute Thesis: "Old Walls and New Nations: the 'Syria Lebanon Room' at the University of Pittsburgh," (advised by Prof. Christiane Gruber)Sept 2013 - April 2015College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA Bachelor or Arts, History of Art (Minor, Middle Eastern Studies) Capstone: "Jami's Haft Awrang: A Case Study of Bird Imagery in Sixteenth-Century Persian Illuminated Manuscripts" (advised by Prof. Virginia Raguin)Sept 2008 - May 2012Grants and AwardsMargaret B. Ševčenko Prize in Islamic Art and Culture sponsored and awarded by the Historians of Islamic Art Association (HIAA) for the best unpublished paper by a junior scholar •"The Sphero-conical as Apothecary Vessel: An Argument for Dedicated Use"January 2021AKPIA Travel Grant sponsored and awarded by the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture (AKPIA) Massachusetts Institute of Technology •Archival research at the Maison méditerranéenne des sciences de l'homme in Aix-en-Provence, FranceJune - July 2018Royal-Anderson Fellowship sponsored and awarded by the Department of Architecture (History, Theory & Criticism Section) Massachusetts Institute of Technology •Independent Research in Santiago, ChileJan 2017MISTI (MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives) Research Grant sponsored and awarded by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology •Independent Research in Santiago, ChileJan 2017Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship - FLAS (academic year) sponsored by U.S. Department of Education, awarded by the University of Michigan •Advanced Persian language studySept 2014 - May 2015Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship - FLAS (summer) sponsored by U.S. Department of Education, awarded by the University of Michigan The Arabic, Persian, and Turkish Language Immersion Institute (APTLI) at the University of Wisconsin •Intermediate Persian studyJune - Aug 2014Fulbright U.S. Student Program - Research Grant sponsored and awarded by U.S. Department of State University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates •Project: "Emerging Cultural Landscapes: Contemporary Art in the Middle East"Sept 2012 - July 2013Critical Language Scholarship sponsored and awarded by U.S. Department of State Qasid Institute, Amman, Jordan •Intermediate Arabic study June - Aug 2012 of 12

LanguagesArabic, advanced; Spanish, advanced; Persian, intermediate; French, beginner Conference Presentations"The Sphero-conical: an Islamic Apothecary Vessel" 5th Cambridge AHRC International Conference, "Form and Forgetting" Cambridge UniversitySeptember 2020"The View From Within: Medieval Islamic Scholars and their Impressions of the Urban" 42nd Annual New England Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians (NESAH) Graduate Student Symposium, Harvard UniversityApril 2020 (postponed due to Covid-19)"Masjid and Mezquita: Translating the Mosque in Contemporary Chile" 108th College Art Association (CAA) Annual Conference (Chicago, IL)February 2020"Old Walls and New Nations: the 'Syria Lebanon Room' at the University of Pittsburgh" Center for Middle Eastern & North African Studies Graduate Student Symposium, University of MichiganApril 2015"Maturing a Market: Contemporary Art in the Emirates" Midwest Art Historian Society Annual Conference, Ohio UniversityMarch 2013Museum ExperienceLos Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) Research Assistant, Art of the Middle East Department •Assistant to Dr. Linda Komaroff, Department Head and Curator of Islamic Art •Assisted in the preparation of traveling exhibition, Beauty and Identity: Islamic Art from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, 2016-2018) •Copyedited bilingual catalogue for Beauty and Identity (2016, Yale University Press) •Organized and directed educational films (in Arabic and English) about recently acquired Damascus Room, specifically its history, conservation, and installation •Conducted research and composed original reports regarding objects in collection Aug 2015 - July 2016The Smithsonian Institute Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington, D.C. Intern, Scholarly Programs and Publications •Assistant to Dr. Nancy Micklewright, Head of Scholarly Programs and Publications •Aided in organizing academic programs, including scholarly symposia •Verified and corrected citations in Ars Orientalis Vol. 41 •Compiled database of scholarly resources for museum professionals •Developed web content for the "research" section of the F|S website June - Aug 2011Teaching ExperienceBoston Architectural College, Boston, MA Adjunct Instructor, History Theory & Criticism Section "History of Interior Architecture"Sept - Dec 2018 & Feb - May 2019Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge MA Teaching Assistant, History Theory and Criticism Section "Urbicide: History of a Violent Practice" (Feb-May 2019); "Historiography of Islamic Architecture" (Sept-Dec 2018); "Modern Art and Mass Culture" (Feb-May 2018); "Islamic Art and the Environment" (Sept-Dec 2017)2017-2019University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI Graduate Student Instructor, Department of Near Eastern Studies "Introduction to Arab Culture" Jan - April 2014The University of Sharjah, Sharjah, UAE Adjunct Instructor, College of Fine Arts and Design "Academic Reading and Writing"Feb - May 2013 of 22