UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — College of Arts and Architecture alumna Glynnis Reed-Conway, who earned her doctorate in art education and in women’s, gender and sexuality studies from Penn State in 2025, has received the Harlan E. and Suzanne Dudley Hoffa Dissertation Award in Art Education for the 2025-26 academic year. This award recognizes the professional relevance, scholarly excellence and clarity of presentation of a recently completed doctoral dissertation by a graduate student in art education at Penn State. Reed-Conway, who also won the Penn State Alumni Association Dissertation Award in spring 2025, is currently an assistant professor of art education and art and design at Kutztown University.
Reed-Conway’s dissertation, “Looking into the Mirrors of Art: An Arts-based Critical Autoethnography of Healing and Self-Recovery Through ‘Conjure Feminist’ Worlding and Wayfinding,” explores the creative navigation of socio-political contexts that persistently threaten the safety, health and well-being of Black women and girls. It focuses on the ways that artmaking and writing facilitated her healing and self-recovery after sexual trauma in 1995.
In her dissertation abstract, Reed-Conway explains that wayfinding is an ongoing, intuitive journey of survival, growth and healing, supported by both personal and collective resources. Worlding, in contrast, emerges from her interiority and daydreaming, a spiritual inner space made tangible through works of art and poetry.
“’Conjure Feminism,’ sacred embodiment and sacred subjectivity — Black feminist theoretical frameworks rooted in African and African Diasporic spiritual practices — guide my analysis,” Reed-Conway wrote in her abstract. “Critical autoethnography connects my experiences to individuals and groups in the larger culture who might share some of the same challenges that I have faced.”
This dissertation explores how Black artistic expression offers a transformative space to resist anti-Blackness, misogynoir and gender-based violence, Reed-Conway explained.
“I situate my research within a broader history of feminist advocacy for the inclusion of diverse perspectives in the arts," she said. "This dissertation contributes to scholarship on trauma, healing and the arts, demonstrating that creative expression can support the navigation of adversity and can also be employed as a collective practice for transformation and resistance.”
Reed-Conway said the award validates both her personal experiences and her scholarly work.
“Receiving the Hoffa Award is deeply gratifying because it affirms that the stories of multiply marginalized survivors of gender-based violence hold value as archives of subjugated knowledge that could help guide others in finding their way through trauma. As someone who has faced significant challenges in my life journey, this recognition feels like confirmation that breaking silences and reclaiming the self are critical to cultivating healing and self-recovery for multiply marginalized survivors,” Reed-Conway said. “The Hoffa Award validates not only my work as a scholar, artist and educator but also the sacred work of transforming pain into useful knowledge with the potential to facilitate individual and collective healing.”
According to Karen Keifer-Boyd, Reed-Conway’s dissertation committee chair, her research addresses the urgent need for art educators to create spaces that are inclusive of diverse worldviews, particularly in the context of K–12 and undergraduate education.
“Furthermore, Glynnis’s study offers valuable insights into how educators can support students who have experienced trauma, particularly those from marginalized communities,” said Keifer-Boyd, professor of art education and of women’s, gender and sexuality studies. “Her research highlights the importance of recognizing and validating the artistic practices of students as legitimate forms of knowledge and healing.”
Reed-Conway also holds a master of fine arts in studio art from the University of California, Irvine, and a bachelor of art in studio art from Occidental College.