Dr. Katherine Schwab has taught at Fairfield University since 1988, after completing her Ph.D. at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. She has served as department chair for two consecutive terms, and has served as Art History program director for several years. Her areas of expertise and interest encompass Greek and Roman Art and Archaeology, as well as South Asian and Asian Art.
As Curator of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Plaster Cast Collection at Fairfield University, Dr. Schwab oversees a growing cast collection of gifts and long-term renewable loans from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as gifts from individual donors. With students she is preparing a selection of casts for installation in the Bellarmine Museum (Fall 2010).
Dr. Schwab's primary area of expertise is the Parthenon metopes, a component of the large sculptural program. Drawing and digital photography form a major part of her investigative tools. Her research, which is generously facilitated by the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, the First Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities, and the Ministry of Culture, in Greece, has yielded new information on the original appearance of the composition in the east and north metopes of the Parthenon. These results have been presented at conferences in the U.S., Europe, and Japan. She has made frequent research trips to Athens where the international community of archaeologists regularly meets. In addition, the study of Tibetan thangka painting with a master artist in the Western Himalayas has helped to refine her drawings of the Parthenon metopes.