Rate My Professor Hilary Haakenson

Dr. Hilary A. Haakenson serves as Associate Professor and Program Coordinator of the Interdisciplinary General Education (IGE) program in the Liberal Studies Department, College of Education and Integrative Studies, at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. She earned her Ph.D. in Renaissance Art History from Rutgers University. Her teaching interests focus on social and political commitment in art, cultural myths and geographies, and the intersections between art and philosophy. Since joining the IGE faculty in 2015, she has played a key leadership role in this longstanding program, overseeing its operations and contributing to its development within the university's general education framework. Haakenson also serves as a member of the Academic Senate's General Education Committee, with her term extending through 2026.

Haakenson's research centers on early Italian cartography and the grand civic monuments commissioned by several maritime cities in Italy, including Venice, Pisa, Genoa, and Naples. She investigates how these maps and monuments visualized the cultural encounters occurring in and around the Mediterranean Sea, and how, in turn, art shaped contemporary European visions of the world. She has received several prestigious awards, including a Fulbright Fellowship for dissertation research in Italy during 2010-2011 and a Fulbright-Hays Group Project Abroad fellowship. The latter supported a five-week trip to Morocco, where she led a group of 14 Cal Poly Pomona community members to deepen understanding of Morocco's history, art, and culture within the Mediterranean context. This experience culminated in her co-curating the exhibit 'Morocco: Crossroads & Meeting Ground' at the Don B. Huntley Gallery, featuring photographs, objects, and sound installations to educate the campus community and challenge stereotypes about the region and the Islamic world. Prior to her appointment at Cal Poly Pomona, Haakenson taught at the University of Connecticut, Murray State University, and Rutgers University.