Beata Maria Kitsikis Panagopoulos
Beata Maria Kitsikis Panagopoulos is a emeritus full professor of Art and Humanities, born in Athens, Greece, June 27, 1925, residing in the United States since 1947. She was a professor at San Jose State University and retired in 1988. Early life and education. Daughter and oldest child of three of Nicolas Kitsikis and Beata Merope Petychakis, she was born in Athens. Greece. Nicolas Kitsikis was full professor and rector of the National Technical University of Athens (Athens Polytechnic School) and had served as General  Director of Public Works in the government of Eleftherios Venizelos, 1917–1920 . At the time of her birth, he was a technical director for the British company MacAlpine and had, among other projects, built the harbour of Heraklion, Crete. Beata Petychakis, born July 14, 1907, in Heraklion, Crete, was the daughter of Emanuel Petychakis, a Cretan Greek, doing business in Egypt. Beata Petychakis married Nicolas Kitsikis at 16 and moved to Athens where Panagopoulos was born. Panagopoulos grew up in various places, in central Athens, in the suburb of Ekali and eventually, in the neighborhood called Kolonaki. Panagopoulos finished high school in 1943. During the next two years she studied architecture at  the National Technical University of Athens, and archeology at the School of Philosophy, University of Athens (UoA). In February 1947, Panagopoulos left Greece for the United States, where she had received a scholarship to the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. There she completed both her Bachelor’s degree and Master’s degree in the field of Medieval Art History under Professor Ulrich . Later life, teaching, and further education. At the University of Chicago, she met a doctoral student, Epaminondas Petros Panagopoulos, (Nondas). They subsequently married and had two children. The family moved first to Detroit, Michigan, where Nondas  began teaching at Wayne State University. In 1956, the family moved to San Jose, California, where Nondas taught American History at San Jose State University (SJSU). During this period of time she and Nondas co-authored the sections on “Modern Culture” in the chapter on “Greece” in the 1958 edition of the Encyclopedia Americana. Panagopoulos earned teaching certificates in Art and French and began teaching at Fremont High School, Sunnyvale. In 1961, she began teaching Art History at Foothill College. In 1962, she was accepted at Stanford University in the Art History PhD program, but transferred to the University of  California, Berkeley’s Art History Department in 1964. Completing her dissertation at the Sorbonne in Paris, she received her PhD in 1970. From then on, she taught at SJSU until 1988. During this time she was appointed Kress Professor of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Greece and concurrently served three years as director of the Gennadius Library. The 1970s, teaching and writing about the humanities. Two major experiences in the 1970’s contributed to the development of Panagopoulos’ teaching philosophy which emphasized the importance of a humanities education. First, at SJSU, she became a professor in the  innovative educational four-year program called "New College", an intensive study program based on small seminars, exploring important themes of modern life. The second illustration was Panagopoulos’ tour of China in 1975. This was a tour for educators led by the Chinese government and was part of Mao Zedong’s first efforts to show China to the world. Panagopoulos’ response was enthusiastic and resulted in an article in the UCLA Educator 1976, entitled: On Creativity in the People’s Republic of China, An Art Historian’s Perspective. and in the content of her course on Women and Art at New  College Major work: Frankish monastic architecture in Greece. In 1979, Panagopoulos’ book Cistercian and Mendicant Monasteries in Medieval Greece was published by the University of Chicago Press: This is the only comprehensive study of the most outstanding extant Gothic monasteries built during the French and Italian occupancy of Greece after the conquest of Constantinople in 1204 CE. -- Walter Horn, University of California, Berkeley In "Cistercian and Mendicant Monasteries in Medieval Greece", Panagopoulos examined the development of Latin ecclesiastical architecture in Greece. She provided new data, including photographs and drawings. In the past this subject area had been too difficult for  medievalists and art historians to access. Google Scholar provides citations to 43 scholars that have in turn referred to this work. Kress Professor and director of the Gennadius Library. In 1982, Panagopoulos was awarded the position of Kress Professor at the American School of Classical Studies in Athens (ASCSA) and in July 1983, was made the director of the American School’s Gennadius Library, a collection of Greek history, literature and art from antiquity to modern times and part of the ASCSA. This was a notable appointment since the library had not had a director since 1977. She served in  this position until July 1986. During her watch, the Gennadius Library opened for additional hours and two evenings a week leading to a substantial increase in the number of people using the library. The physical structure of the library was remodeled. A new exhibition room and a section for archival research were added to the building. Under Panagopoulos’ leadership the following of the library increased substantially. The monthly  lectures, chamber music concerts and exhibits grew in popularity. The library had an exhibit on the literary activities in Thessaloniki, another on the treasures of Mt. Sinai and the Patriarchate of Alexandria  and a third on the achievements of the American School of Classical Studies in Athens. In 1985 Athens was selected as the European Capital of Culture and the Gennadius Library fully participated in events throughout the year. The library was part of five exhibitions and in addition contributed substantially to a television program on the life of Joannes Gennadius. Turco-Baroque domestic architecture. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Panagopoulos did her own research and synthesized fragmented studies surrounding certain large mansions (Greek: αρχοντικά) built in Greece and the remaining Balkans between 1700 and 1900. Her work recognized as  an emerging class the owners of these mansions who were merchants dealing in products—leather, wax, fabrics—from the Ottoman Empire for sale in lucrative European markets like Madrid, Vienna and Venice. This class of merchants was secure in their language and their religion but did not have fixed commitments as to their ethnicity. They would leave at the beginning of  spring and return home at the beginning of  the winter. Slowly they became rich and built homes using itinerant builders mostly from Greece’s Epirus and western Macedonia regions. Awards. In 1982 Panagopoulos received, in Greece, the Academy of  Athens annual award for the humanities. In addition, in the United States, in 1992, she received the Hellenic American Professional Society of California's Axion Award. Personal. Panagopoulos’ husband of 48 years was Epaminondas Petros Panagopoulos. They had two children. Panagopoulos retired in 1988 from SJSU and has spent the remaining years living in San Francisco and traveling frequently. Publications. Panagopoulos, Beata Kitsikis (1979). Cistercian and Mendicant Monasteries in Medieval Greece. University of Chicago Press, , World Cat.org 4495918. Panagopoulos, Beata Kitsikis, “Death at the Firing Squad” "Women in the Resistance and the Holocaust," "The Voices of" "Witnesses." ed. Vera Laska . Contributions in Women’s Studies No.37, Greenwood Press, Westport Connecticut. 1983. Panagopoulos, E.P. and Beata Maria Panagopoulos(1958). "Greece: Modern Culture (section 8)". "Encyclopedia Americana", New York: Americana Corporation, Volume 13 Goethe-HAW, pp 418e. Panagopoulos, Beata Kitsikis (Spring 1976). “On Creativity In The People’s Republic of China". UCLA Educator, Graduate School of Education, Volume 18, No. 2, pp. 29–35. Panagopoulos, Beata Kitsikis. “American Women Artists”. "Zygos", Issue 22-23, September–December, 1976, pp 105–108 (Greek:________ Οι γυναικες ζογραφοι στην ‘΄Αμερικι, ΖΥΓΟΣ, 22-23, Σεπτεμβριος-Δεκεμβριος, 1976 105-108) Panagopoulos, Beata Kitsikis. “The Ceramics of Simone Kostopoulou”. "Zygos", Issue 62 , November–December,1983, pp. 63–65 (Greek:__________Κεραμικα της Σιμον Κωστοπουλου, ΖΥΓΟΣ, Νοεμβριος-Δεκεμβριος, 1983 63-65.) Panagopoulos, Beata Maria, ”The Aghia Sophia Church In Oakland”. "Αρχιτεκτονικη". A periodical of Architecture and Art published in Greece (10 Panepistimiou Street, Athens, Greece)  in Greek, English and German Languages. Vol 7. No. 41. Oct. 1963. Pp xviii-xxi Panagopoulos, Beata, Kitsikis, “Some Venetian Churches in Crete”. "Estratto Arte Veneta," Annata XXX, 1976 Panagopoulos, Beata Kitsikis, "Medieval Architecture In Greece: Western Monastic Orders in the Latin States Formed On Byzantine Territory", originally Actes Du XVe Congres International D’Etudes Byzantines Athenes -1976 II "Art et Archeologie" published  1981 Panagopoulos, Beata Maria, "Western Monasteries in the Peloponnese, Cistercian, Franciscan, and Dominican in the 13th and 14th Centuries". National Research Foundation, Institute of Byzantine Research, International Conference 14 Monastic Movements in the Peloponnese 4th-15th century A.D. (Greek:Δυτικος Μοναχισμος Στην Πελοποννησο, Κιστερκιανοι, Φραγκισκανοι, Δομινικανοι, Τον 13ο και 14ο Αιονα,   Εθνικο Ιδρυμα Ερευνον Ινστιτουτο Βυζαντινον Ερευνον Διεθνη Συμποσια 14, Επιστημονικν επιμελια,)  Αthens 2004 unpublished See also. Histoire picturale de la guerre de l'indépendance héllenique. Geneva. Editions d'art Boissonas et Paris: Librairie Jean Budy & Cie., 1926. [This work is a facsimile of the celebrated series of paintings commissioned by General Makriyannis  sometime during the 1830s from the painter Panayotis Zographos.] Moutsopoulos, Nikolaos, K.( 2005). Byzantine and Ottoman Architecture (in Greek: Μουτσοπουλος, Κ. Νικολαος, Βυζαντινα και Οθομανικα, Εκδοτης Νησιδες), ΙSBN 13 9789608263420 <nowiki>https://www.politeianet.gr/sygrafeas/moutsopoulos-k-nikolaos-25672</nowiki> _________, “The Artist of General Makrigiannis". Dimitria Yota, Theta. Exhibition Catalog, National Museum of Folk Art, Thessaloniki, October, November 1984 (Greek: ο Ζωγραφος το στρατηγου Μακρυγιαννη, Δημητρια ΙΘ, Λαογραφικο-Εθνολογικο Μουσειο Μακεδονιας) __________“Dallas Library Exhibits Rare Books From Greece". "Dallas Morning News", April 11, 1985 ___________“The Griffon”. Gennadius Library, American School of Classical Studies. Annual Review published by the Syllogos of the  Philoi of the Gennadius Library, Athens. No. 1 and 2 Printed in Greece 1986. __________Guide to the San Jose State University New College Records. MSS.2009.11.03, Online Archive of California. <nowiki>https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt838nf3pd/entire_text/</nowiki> ___________ Newsletter, American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Fall 1982. P15 ___________ Newsletter, American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Spring 1983, pp 6,7 ___________ Newsletter, American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Summer 1984, pp 9 ___________ Newsletter, American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Winter 1984, p. 10 ___________ Newsletter, American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Spring 1985, pp 8,9 ___________ Newsletter, American School  of Classical Studies at Athens, Spring 1986, pp. 6,7 ___________ Newsletter, American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Fall 1986, p. 1 __________“Sparta Life” 1968 Fall. King Library Digital Collections. San Jose State University Student Publications Collection. San Jose State University. <nowiki>https://digitalcollections.sjsu.edu/islandora/object/islandora%3A86_1877?solr_nav%5Bid%5D=575fef5cff64e6251a2e&solr_nav%5Bpage%5D=0&solr_nav%5Boffset%5D=5#page/28/mode/2u</nowiki> Derenzi, Karen M., “Students Get Opportunity to Travel for SJSU Credits.” "Spartan Daily". Vol.89 No, 46, Wednesday, November 4, 1987 pp:1 <nowiki>https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=7638&context=spartandaily</nowiki>. Petridi, Lisa,”The Balkans: Historic Mansions”, "Tachidromos", December 15, 1983, Issue 50 (1544) pp. 46–48, Panagopoulos, Beata Kitsikis. Emeritus and Retired Faculty  Biographies. SJSU ScholarWorks. San Jose State University. <nowiki>https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/erfa_bios/208/</nowiki>