Faculty Fellows
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Dr. Tamara Smithers, Professor of Art History, received the 2023 National Alumni Association Distinguished Professor Award at Austin Peay where she teaches a variety of courses including Introduction to Art, Art History Surveys, Italian Renaissance, European Baroque, and Native American Visual Culture. She has taken students to New Mexico to study Indigenous art, archaeology, and culture, and regularly leads a study abroad program to Rome, Italy.
Her publications include essays on Michelangelo’s working practices and the Capitoline Hill in Rome, an edited volume called Michelangelo in the New Millennium: Conversations about Artistic Practice, Patronage, and Christianity with Brill Publishing in 2016, and a short biographical book on Michelangelo. She has also published several exhibitions reviews about contemporary Native American art.
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Dzavid Dzanic is a historian of modern Europe, with a focus on France and the French Empire. His book manuscript, The Civilizing Sea: The Ideological Origins of the French Mediterranean Empire, examines the history of French imperial expansion in Egypt, Italy, and Algeria between the 1789 Revolution and the beginning of the Third Republic in 1870. At APSU, he has taught courses on modern world history; early world history; modern France, Europe, and the Middle East; as well as historical methods and historiography.
Dr. Dzanic completed a B.A. degree in the honors program for history majors at the University of British Columbia. His enthusiasm for the honors curriculum has led him to become an Honors Faculty Fellow at APSU, where he thoroughly enjoys participating in the vibrant intellectual community.
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Gina Nigro is a full professor and the University College Research Librarian at Austin Peay State University, where she has served since 1996. Throughout her tenure, she has developed and led a wide range of library initiatives, collaborations, and partnerships that promote high-impact educational practices and support the evolving needs of students. Working closely with institutional stakeholders, she focuses on student engagement, retention, and academic success through intentional programming and resource development.
A passionate advocate for meaningful, student-centered learning experiences, Gina teaches a variety of courses in the Honors Program, including HON 1045 – Fundamentals of Interdisciplinary Thinking and HON 2220 – The Values Driven Life. She also leads first-year seminars such as HON 1000, UNIV 1000, and UNIV 1010, and regularly provides customized information literacy instruction, research support, and student success workshops across campus.