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In new honors professorship, Heidi Hehnly wants to bridge art, science at SU

Photo Courtesy of Syracuse Unviersity

Heidi Hehnly wants to help match students interested in the intersection of art and science with on-campus labs through her professorship within the Renée Crown Honors program.

By Kyle ChouinardSenior Staff Writer

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Syracuse University Professor Heidi Hehnly looks for the beauty in science.

Hehnly currently teaches BIO 400, a class at SU where students learn to utilize biological science techniques to create pieces of art. Hehnly and others refer to the practice as “Bio-Art.”

Now, as the inaugural Renée Crown Honors Professor in Sciences and Mathematics, Hehnly wants to bridge the gap between art and science for honors students.

“(The professorship is) really put in place to create this interdisciplinary field,” she said. “How can we bring students together to have those diverse interests into one classroom to really create a really excellent and novel learning environment? This professorship really (allows) for that.”



Karin Nisenbaum joins Henhly in the professorship as the Renée Crown Honors Professor in the Humanities. Trustee Emerita Renée Schine Crown funded the professorship, which lasts for a three-year term according to an SU press release. In addition to teaching and developing coursework, the pair will help students in the honors program with their thesis research projects.

Dr. Danielle Taana Smith, the SU honors program director and a professor of African American Studies, was part of the team that selected the two for the new positions. Like Hehnly, Taana Smith believes the new professorship will create learning at SU that connects different areas of study.

“The professorships will provide an intellectual space in which Honors students from diverse disciplinary backgrounds can bring their experiences together to conduct research on interdisciplinary themes,” Taana Smith said.

In addition to Bio-Art, Hehnly is teaching a class on combining microscopy – the use of microscopes – and illustration. But one of the largest advantages to come out of her new professorship, she said, is the ability to shift her focus away from running classes to planning what students in the honors program can learn.

“I can develop coursework for days, that’s more interdisciplinary and maybe more novel to see how it would work with the student body to be excited about,” Hehnly said. “The honors program, and this professorship, has allowed me the time to develop courses around those ideas.”

Hehnly specifically wants to help match students interested in Bio-Art with on-campus scientific labs related to their interests. She said she hopes the effort will enable students in the program to assemble a “more finalized exhibit.”

Lois Agnew, the interim dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, said the honors program is thrilled to have Hehnly and Nisenbaum take the professorships.

“As Crown Professors, they will elevate the Honors Program’s unique strengths and continue to ensure that its curriculum exemplifies best practices and is fully aligned with the University’s academic priorities,” Agnew said in a press release.

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While Hehnly is increasingly involved in Bio-Art, she only started working in the field over the last few years. When she was an assistant professor at SUNY Upstate Medical College from 2015 to 2018, she gave a talk on her research to SU students. After presenting a painting related to her own work, a graduate student in attendance came up to her and told her she should connect with Boryana Rossa, a professor within the school of Visual and Performing Arts.

Soon after, the pair created the Bio-Art mixer to bring the campus community together and have local bio-artists present their work at SU. Hehnly said the annual project has grown since its first iteration in 2018.

“We’ve expanded to people from all over the world,” she said.

The project parallels Hehnly’s vision for the honors program of bringing together traditionally unconnected perspectives, ideas and practices.

“My goals … is that we would bring more of a (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics) curriculum to this campus, where the arts would be incorporated,” Hehnly said.





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