About the Donor
Maude Kerns enrolled in high school in 1891 at the prep school administered by the University of Oregon. She graduated from the University of Oregon in 1899 with a Bachelor of Arts, in a class of thirty-four seniors. Kerns later returned to teach at the School of Architecture and Allied Arts at the University of Oregon in Eugene. From 1921 to 1947, she led the art education program (also known as the Normal Arts Department), aligning her curriculum with the beliefs and practices of William Morris. She continued her work until her retirement in the 1940s. Unfortunately, many of her early works were destroyed in a fire at the art school. Kerns was also a member of the California Watercolor Society and the Oregon Society of Artists.
About the Fund
The Maude Kerns Professorship in Oriental Art Fund was established in 2014 to support distinguished faculty in Asian and Middle Eastern Art.