Meet the Faculty of Adventures in Lifelong Learning

Dr. Helen Heineman, President Emerita of Framingham State University, has had an extensive career in higher education, including 43 years in teaching and senior level administrative positions. She holds a bachelor’s degree summa cum laude from Queens College, a Master’s degree from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. from Cornell University. She received an Andrew Dickson White Fellowship to Cornell, two Woodrow Wilson Fellowships, was a Radcliffe Fellow, and an American Association of University Women (AAUW) Fellow. Dr. Heineman was chair of the English Department at Framingham State University, and was then appointed Academic Vice President. In 1999, Dr. Heineman became President of Framingham State University, where she served until retiring in 2006. She has published four books and numerous articles in the field of Victorian literature. Dr. Heineman now spends her retirement years traveling, writing, and teaching in Framingham’s Adventures in Lifelong Learning program. Dr. Heineman’s novel, Emma Redux, a continuation of Jane Austen’s Emma, has been accepted for publication by TouchPoint Press, and will appear next year.

Elizabeth Quigley Perry is an art historian and Professor Emerita at Framingham State University (FSU). She holds a Ph.D. in the History of Art and Architecture from Brown University. Her master’s thesis from Brown explored Chinese painting in the Yuan Dynasty, while her dissertation focused on a type of miniature paintings worn by nuns in Vice-Regal Mexico. Dr. Perry’s numerous articles and conference presentations have focused on reconstructing the patronage and production of art by nuns at convents in Mexico, as well as among English nuns exiled in Portugal from the 16th through the early 19th centuries. During her years as a full-time professor in the Art & Music Department at Framingham Dr. Perry taught a wide variety of courses, including “Latin American Art,” “Arts of Asia,” and advanced seminars on “Women and Art in the Renaissance and Baroque Periods,” “Michelangelo,” “Japonisme,” and “Primitivism and Modern Art.” She also taught art-focused study tours to Europe and Japan for many years. Since retiring, Dr. Perry has taught “Introduction to the World of Art” online through FSU’s continuing education program. She has been re-focusing her own research for the next stage of life on local history. She is currently researching, writing, and thinking about an early nineteenth century woman artist from Massachusetts.

Dr. David Smailes is the Program Coordinator and Advisor for the Master of Public Administration program and an Associate Professor in the Political Science Department at Framingham State University. Dr. Smailes received his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and his B.A. from the College of Wooster in Ohio. His research interests include American political history, public administration, the presidency and American political thought. Prior to joining the Framingham State community, Dr. Smailes taught at Westfield State University (where he served as department chair and program director for the MPA program) and Regis College.