Anne Mondro Promoted to Full Professor
The University of Michigan Board of Regents approved the promotion of Anne Mondro from associate professor to professor of art and design at the May 21, 2026 meeting. This action recognizes Mondro’s prolific career which has been defined by interdisciplinary research in art and healthcare, mentorship of students, and community engagement.
A Philosophy of Care
Mondro’s teaching, research, and creative practice are grounded in what she describes as a “philosophy of care” approach. Across studio art courses in three-dimensional design, community engagement, and jewelry and metalsmithing, she encourages students to experiment, take creative risks, and develop work rooted in their own experiences and perspectives.
Recognizing the many responsibilities students carry outside the classroom, Mondro emphasizes flexibility, openness, and support in her teaching. Her classrooms foster collaboration and artistic growth while maintaining high expectations for rigor. That impact is reflected in the individuality of her students’ work. Rather than guiding students toward a single aesthetic, Mondro helps them develop distinct artistic voices. She is widely regarded by Stamps undergraduate and graduate students as a thoughtful mentor and has become a sought-after MFA advisor and a valued participant in the Stamps Senior Integrative Project.
“Being in the classroom is grounding for me,” Mondro said. “In the classroom, I feel a sense of balance and mastery because I know the skills and can communicate them well to students who are working towards developing their own skills and sense of confidence in their educational and creative work.”
Early in her career as an educator, Mondo created Retaining Identity, a community engagement course that brought together art and design students with people living with dementia through partnerships with healthcare and geriatric care organizations. The course explored how creativity can foster empathy, connection, and well-being during illness and memory loss. Through collaborative artmaking, students gained a deeper understanding of the human side of healthcare while participants and caregivers engage in meaningful creative experiences. This work meshed with Mondro’s own research in the art and health sphere.
Connecting Art and Healthcare
Mondro’s research has explored the intersection of visual art, healthcare, and social practice. Through arts programming that connects caregivers, healthcare providers, students, and people living with memory loss, she demonstrates how creativity can strengthen relationships and improve quality of life.
Mondro has earned recognition for her studio practice. Her intricately woven wire sculptures, often inspired by human anatomy, combine technical precision with conceptual depth. Her work has been featured in exhibitions and supported through grants, earning recognition within the contemporary craft communities.
Her arts and health research has been presented nationally and internationally through conferences, invited lectures, publications, and public talks, including 27 peer-reviewed conference presentations and six invited presentations. Mondro’s work has been exhibited extensively in Michigan and across the country.
One reviewer of her promotion case summarized the breadth and significance of her accomplishments by writing, “Her exhibition record is strong nationally and internationally, her scholarly research has made a significant impact, she has received impressive recognition in both areas of research, and her service is stellar. The trajectory of her research reflects a well-conceived and sustainable program of scholarly and artistic inquiry.”
An Unexpected Challenge and Renewed Purpose
In 2020, while balancing an active studio practice, teaching responsibilities, an ambitious research agenda, and giving birth to her daughter, Mondro was diagnosed with cancer. The experience shifted her focus almost entirely toward treatment and recovery.
“I’ve dedicated so much of my career to developing programming for caregivers, and then I became a caregiver and a care recipient,” she said. “I was able to pull a lot of wisdom from the families I’ve worked with.”
Even during treatment, Mondro continued creating artwork and organized an exhibition within the hospital where she received care. Her work entitled, The Quiet Strength of Nature was on view at the U‑M Rogel Cancer Center where she was receiving treatment. Drawing on both her experiences as a patient and her earlier work with families affected by dementia, she found new direction in her creative practice and research. The result was an exhibition entitled Tethered: a collection of woven wire sculptures that explore the complex and often conflicting emotions experienced by being a caregiver and care recipient simultaneously. Using visual metaphors, delicate wire sculptures reminiscent of human anatomy such as bronchial tubes or aortic valves joined together in imaginary configurations, Mondro references a new relationship between caregivers and care recipients. Knots have also been making their way into her designs as symbols of support and strength. Drawing from the artist’s personal experience, Tethered offers an insightful reflection of the vital role of caregiving and its profound impact upon healing.
“My daughter sees the objects I’m making. They have so much of me in them, my grief, love, and hope,” Mondro said. “These works serve as a legacy of who I am and what I have been through for her and my family.”
Mondro recently presented seminars at the Flint Institute of Arts and the Association of Medical Illustrators, where she discussed her work with people living with dementia and reflected on the emotions tied to her recent cancer journey. She has also been commissioned by University of Iowa Hospital for a piece that will exist outside the cardiovascular department in remembrance of one of the medical technicians who was skilled at conducting biopsies on the human heart, but passed away after battling colon cancer.
On May 21, the same day she was promoted to full professor at U‑M, Mondro and her family — including her now five year old daughter — celebrated the opening of Mondro’s latest installation at the Muskegon Art Museum as part of the Material World: Ten Women exhibition.
36 Moments of Wonder
A great deal of work lies ahead for her, and she is embracing it with excitement and imagination. Filled with aspirational dreams for making and new collaborations, she recently received a Stamps School catalyst grant to support a powerful new body of work centered on restoring joy after years lived under the weight of fear and anxiety.
She calls the project 36 Moments of Wonder, inspired by a pivotal moment in her cancer journey when she found an article stating that the post-surgery recurrence prognosis offered people with her rare form of cancer a potential 36 month prognosis. Living through those 36 months with uncertainty and fear transformed her deeply. Now, having moved beyond that milestone, she is choosing to reclaim those years through art by creating beauty, wonder, and joy for others, especially patients living within hospital and healthcare settings.
“Thirty-six months carried so much fear,” Mondro said. “Now I want to reclaim those months and put joy out into the world for other patients living in hospitals and healthcare settings. I want to create hidden worlds and larger works that lean into beauty and joy in ways I haven’t been able to do personally before.”
Her vision includes immersive hidden worlds filled with delight, large scale installations, and expansive new works that lean fully into beauty and joy. The project represents more than a creative evolution. It is the embodiment of taking back her life and artistic practice after cancer nearly diminished her spirit, her sense of possibility, and her outlook.
“The process of making has always served as a place to process emotion and experiences, but it has become a much deeper experience for me,” she said. “The opportunity to dream about the future and think about arts and health in new ways feels meaningful. This is the culmination of not knowing if I would be here, let alone dream about my career trajectory.”