Art history and classical studies alumna receives full-ride scholarship for doctoral program at University of Cambridge

“Performing independent research at a high level at Wooster” prepared Isabelle Hoover ’23 well for a master’s program at the University of Cambridge, and the Fighting Scots’ star cross-country and track and field student-athlete is headed back to pursue a Ph.D. in the history of art funded by the full-ride Gates Cambridge Scholarship. 

“My Wooster background allowed me to thrive within the rigorous environment at Cambridge,” shared Hoover, an art history and classical studies major. “My Master of Philosophy program in art history was extremely intense, as it was a nine-month program. The research and writing skills I developed at Wooster proved imperative to my success at Cambridge. Even among peers from large-name institutions like Harvard University, Cambridge, and The Courtauld Institute of Art, I felt perfectly well prepared to dive in and perform research at that high level. My academic achievements at Cambridge in turn readied me to return for a Ph.D. and compete in a competitive scholarship process like the Gates.” 

While pursuing the Ph.D., Hoover will be studying the Italian Renaissance altarpiece, focusing on the presence of painted fictive marbles within these works. Hoover will investigate why devotional artworks like altarpieces might have included fictive painted stone and what role they might have played in urging the viewer towards the divine.  

“My aim is to interrogate the intricate relationship between paint and stone, material and false material, word and image, and mortal and divine,” Hoover said. “By closely examining such features I am aiming to utilize this art form as a gateway to investigate broader issues of materiality, representation, and meaning within devotional art of the Italian Renaissance.” 

Hoover credits Tracy Cosgriff, associate professor of art & art history, Middle Eastern and North African studies for illuminating academic and professional paths she did not even know existed. Her Independent Study project investigated the ways the Medici commissioned art and senses like sound and smell to create what Hoover refers to as reality spaces.  

Close bonds formed at Wooster led Cosgriff to suggest Hoover apply for the Gates scholarship. Hoover found Cosgriff, as well as Kara Morrow, professor of art and art history and chair of museum studies, Josephine Shaya, Marian Senter Nixon chair in Classical Civilization, and Dennis Rice, Wooster’s head cross country and track and field coach, all extremely supportive  throughout the application and interview process. 

As a student-athlete, Hoover received an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship to pursue her master’s and was the Division III Commissioner’s Association Region VII Women’s Sport Student-Athlete of the Year as a senior. In 2022, Hoover was voted North Coast Athletic Conference Distance Athlete of the Year for the indoor season after helping lead Wooster to a runner-up team finish. For her career, Hoover became a four-time conference champion, headlined by two blue ribbons in the 10,000 meters. She earned 10 all-conference honors, including a pair of first-team certificates as a top seven cross-country finisher. As a senior, Hoover was Wooster’s nominee for NCAA Woman of the Year.

Also, while at Wooster, Hoover secured a flagship internship at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the largest art museum in the Americas. Hoover was the lone intern on a team of about 50 within the museum to work on special exhibitions under the guidance of five registrars. Hoover’s undergraduate research on Homer’s Song of Sympathy was published by the University of Chicago in its Animus Classics Journal, and she presented at several academic conferences.

Currently supporting incoming Wooster students as an admissions specialist, Hoover will begin her doctoral program at Cambridge in the fall of 2025. After completing her Ph.D., Hoover plans to pursue a career as a professor and researcher in academia or as a curator within an art museum institution.

Posted in Alumni, Homepage Featured on March 6, 2025.