{"id":464,"date":"2025-05-16T20:10:06","date_gmt":"2025-05-16T20:10:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/history-art-architecture\/?p=464"},"modified":"2026-07-01T18:43:24","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T18:43:24","slug":"vanderbilt-university-honors-2025-founders-medalists-history-of-art-major-nikki-takahashi-weitzenhoffer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/history-art-architecture\/2025\/05\/16\/vanderbilt-university-honors-2025-founders-medalists-history-of-art-major-nikki-takahashi-weitzenhoffer\/","title":{"rendered":"Vanderbilt University honors 2025 Founder\u2019s Medalists History of Art Major Nikki Takahashi Weitzenhoffer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-olk-copy-source=\"MessageBody\">Nikki Takahashi Weitzenhoffer, from Norman, Oklahoma, is this year\u2019s Founder\u2019s Medalist for the\u00a0<a title=\"Original URL: https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/. Click or tap if you trust this link.\" href=\"https:\/\/nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fas.vanderbilt.edu%2F&amp;data=05%7C02%7Cshantera.l.rice%40vanderbilt.edu%7C546e23260fe04ee3a2dd08dd8eff614f%7Cba5a7f39e3be4ab3b45067fa80faecad%7C0%7C0%7C638823949709210105%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=PYbOPwU08Sadvcd%2FJY2IPbcEL2YMVHvsxeyFFi0JX1U%3D&amp;reserved=0\" data-auth=\"NotApplicable\" data-linkindex=\"0\">College of Arts and Science<\/a>, majoring in History of Art.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Weitzenhoffer earned highest accolades for her history of art honors thesis. The project focused on Ukiyo-e, which means \u201cpictures of the floating world.\u201d It\u2019s a Japanese art form of the 17th\u201319th centuries that depicts scenes from everyday life on woodblock prints and p<span style=\"font-size: 1.2rem\">aintings. She learned how historic<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 1.2rem\">al<\/span><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-465 size-medium alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.vanderbilt.edu\/vu-cas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/63\/2025\/05\/16200256\/NickiWeit-247x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"247\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.vanderbilt.edu\/vu-cas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/63\/2025\/05\/16200256\/NickiWeit-247x300.png 247w, https:\/\/cdn.vanderbilt.edu\/vu-cas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/63\/2025\/05\/16200256\/NickiWeit.png 494w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 247px) 100vw, 247px\" \/><span style=\"font-size: 1.2rem\">\u00a0research can illuminate broade<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 1.2rem\">r cultural questions, which inspired her to pursue a master\u2019s degree at Vanderbilt in History of Art.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Her leadership roles include co-president of the History of Art Society and co-assistant director of the Research on Conflict and Collective Action Lab. She said the ROCCA Lab strengthened her commitment to use rese<span style=\"font-size: 1.2rem\">arch as a tool for advocacy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>She also was a senior staff editor for\u00a0<i>Vanderbilt Historical Review,<\/i>\u00a0group leader for Volunteers for H<span style=\"font-size: 1.2rem\">ealth and a Buchanan Library Fellow.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Weitzenhoffer said she is grateful for the transformative guidance of Helmut Smith in history and Susan Din<span style=\"font-size: 1.2rem\">e in history of art and architecture, professors who shaped her <\/span>academic journey, future aspirations and growth.<\/p>\n<p>After earning her master\u2019s, she plans to go to law school and develop exper<span style=\"font-size: 1.2rem\">ti<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 1.2rem\">se in art and cultural heritage restitution law.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nikki Takahashi Weitzenhoffer, from Norman, Oklahoma, is this year\u2019s Founder\u2019s Medalist for the\u00a0College of Arts and Science, majoring in History of Art. Weitzenhoffer earned highest accolades for her history of art honors thesis. The project focused on Ukiyo-e, which means \u201cpictures of the floating world.\u201d It\u2019s a Japanese art form of the 17th\u201319th centuries that&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":465,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[6],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/cdn.vanderbilt.edu\/vu-cas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/63\/2025\/05\/16200256\/NickiWeit.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/history-art-architecture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/history-art-architecture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/history-art-architecture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/history-art-architecture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/75"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/history-art-architecture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=464"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/history-art-architecture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":467,"href":"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/history-art-architecture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464\/revisions\/467"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/history-art-architecture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/history-art-architecture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/history-art-architecture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/history-art-architecture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}