Ronne Hartfield

Ronne Hartfield (born March 17, 1936) is an American author, essayist, and museum-education consultant.

Early life and education Ronne Hartfield was born on March 17, 1936, to John Drayton Rone and Thelma Shepherd (née Day) in Chicago, Illinois. She attended Wendell Phillips High School in the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago.

Hartfield earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in History in 1955 and a Master of Arts in Theology and Literature in 1986, both from the University of Chicago.

Career Hartfield's first job after college was with Science Research Associates as an editorial assistant. Later on she started to do public relations work for the Chicago Children's Choir. She was Project Director of Urban Gateways: The Centre for Arts in Education, a Chicago-based arts and education non-profit organization.

From 1974-1981, Hartfield was the Dean of Students and Assistant Professor of comparative literature at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She also taught at Northwestern University and the University of Illinois, Chicago. which aims to engage African Americans in the life of the institution and promotes diversity. Hartfield also worked as a consultant for the Rockefeller Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Hartfield’s memoir, Another Way Home: The Tangled Roots of Race in One Chicago Family , examines race and identity through the story of her mother, Day Shepherd. Another Way Home received a review in the Chicago Tribune.

Hartfield later worked as an international consultant with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Institute of Museum and Library Services and led cultural exchange projects in Germany, Brazil, Mexico, and Japan.

Publications In addition to her memoir Another Way Home (2004), Hartfield contributed entries to the Encyclopedia of Chicago (2004) and essays in Stewards of the Sacred (2004). She also presented research on art and spirituality in international venues such as the Eranos Yearbook in Switzerland. and the Sor Juana Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts from the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago.

Selected service on boards and committees

American Writers Museum, Writer, Museum Consultant Fetzer Institute, Kalamazoo, MI, Convener, Arts Advisory Council Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, Taliesin, Scottsdale, AZ, Board of Directors Harvard University Graduate Division of Arts Education, Co-Chair Board of Directors University of Chicago Women's Board, Steering Committee University of Chicago, Interlocutor, International Enhancing Life Project Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, Chicago The Chicago Network, Vice President Columbia College Chicago, Board of Directors International Sculpture Center, New York City, Trustee 1995 - The Artist in Society: Afterword. Essay in New Art Examiner, Summer 1996 - The Chicago Years: Gathering Light in the Gray City. Essay in Gullah Images: The Art of Jonathan Green (University of South Carolina Press) 1998 - The New Jersey State Museum, African American Fine Arts Collection Catalog, Trenton. Five essays 2001 - A Permanence of Stone and Language in America's Courtyard. Catalog essay: Perez and Milan. (Ripasa, São Paulo) 2001 - Encountering Art/Different Facets of the Esthetic Experience. Miho Museum, Kyoto. Essay (Overlook Press NY) 2004 - The Encyclopedia of Chicago History (University of Chicago Press). Two entries 2004 - Seeing and Silence: Sacred Encounter in Museum Exhibition. Essay in Stewards of the Sacred (American Association of Museums) 2004 - Musings on Barbarous Beauty. Fellowship conference proceedings (Harvard University Center for the Study of World Religions) 2004 - Another Way Home: The Tangled Roots of Race in One Chicago Family. Biographical Memoir (University of Chicago Press) 2001–2002 Senior Research Fellow at the Center for the Study of World Religions (CSWR), Harvard Divinity School Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Residency Fellowship DePaul University, Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters Aspen Institute Residency Fellowships Robert Maynard Hutchins Award for Distinction in Education (Chicago History Museum) National Women's Caucus for the Arts, Lifetime Achievement Award Goethe-Institut Travel Fellowship to Germany Brazil Cultural Consortium Travel Fellowship Mexico/Chicago Fellowship, City of Chicago Leadership Committee Institute for International Education, Women Leaders Delegation to Japan YWCA Outstanding Leadership in the Arts Award Congressman Sidney Yates Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Arts Scholarship and Guidance Association Award for Exceptional Community Service American Women Composers Award Lawyers For the Creative Arts Award for Exceptional Contributions International Women Associates, Woman Extraordinaire Christopher Moore Award, Chicago Children's Choir Woman of the Year, Chicago Association of Mannequins Distinguished Service Award, Alpha Gamma Pi Honorary Sorority Community Leadership Award, Abraham Lincoln Center Professional Excellence Award, League of Black Women Kizzy Award for Exceptional Achievement Named One of Ten Chicagoans to Watch by The Chicago Sun-Times Named One of 100 Most Outstanding Chicago Women by Today's Chicago Woman National Museum of Mexican Art: Sor Juana Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts African American Arts Alliance of Chicago: Outstanding Achievement in Non-Fiction Literature