Kristin Triff teaches art and architectural history in the Department of Fine Arts and in the Cities Program, focusing on the intersection of social history and architecture in the early Modern era. She graduated from Carleton College in 1984 with a B.A. in English Literature, then earned a master’s in architecture from Harvard University in 1992 and a Ph.D. in the history of art and architecture from Brown University in 2000. She has practiced architecture in Boston and Miami, and taught undergraduate and graduate architectural design at the University of Miami and the University of Florida.

Her teaching philosophy focuses on expanding each student's instinctive understanding of architecture and urbanism by looking at the social, political, historical, and professional aspects of the built environment. By examining documents ranging from building inventories to historical narratives to construction documents, students gain a deeper understanding of the complex relationships between architecture, cities, and society.

Selected Publications:

• Triff, Kristin A. Patronage and Public Image in Renaissance Rome:  The Orsini Palace at Monte Giordano. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols Publishers, 2013.
• Triff, Kristin A. "Teatri figura quae tempore mutat: an ichnographic history of Pompey's Theater," in Allan Ceen, ed., Giambattista Nolli, Imago Urbis, and Rome. Rome: Gangemi, 2013.
• Triff, Kristin A. "Rhetoric and Romanitas in thirteenth-century Rome: Nicholas III and the Sancta Sanctorum," Artibus et Historiae 60 (2009): 71-106.
• Triff, Kristin A. Staging Diplomacy in Eighteenth-Century Rome:  The Festival of the Chinea. Exhibition Catalogue, Watkinson Library, Trinity College, January 24-February 28, 2005. Hartford: Lebon Press, 2005.
• Triff, Kristin A. "Teoria e Pratica del costruire a Roma nel primo Rinascimento: il caso di Monte Giordano," in Giovanni Mochi, ed., Teoria e Pratica del costruire: saperi, strumenti, modelli. Ravenna: Fondazione Flaminia, 2005, 883-893.
• Triff, Kristin A. "Two Seventeenth-Century Plans of the Palazzo di Monte Giordano in Rome."  Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz, XLII (1998): 2/3, 511-23. 

Selected Presentations:

• Triff, Kristin A. "Patronage and Public Image in Renaissance Rome: The Orsini Palace at Monte Giordano." Invited paper presented at "The Orsini, a Roman Baronial Family in Context: Politics, Society and Art" conference, University of California, Los Angeles.
• Triff, Kristin A. "Florentine Painting and Roman Identity:  Masolino and the Legacy of the Uomini Famosi." Paper presented at the 2004 Renaissance Society of America Conference, New York.
• Triff, Kristin A. "Feudal Power and Public Image in Seventeenth-Century Rome:  The Orsini Palace at Monte Giordano." Paper presented at the 2003 Society of Architectural Historians Conference, Denver, Colorado.
• Triff, Kristin A. "Nicholas III and the Foundations of Renaissance Papal Patronage." Paper presented at the 2002 Renaissance Society of America Conference, Scottsdale, Arizona.
• Triff, Kristin A. "Orsini Patronage and the Construction of a Public Image at Monte Giordano." Paper presented at the 2000 College Art Association conference, New York.

• National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Stipend, 2006
• Faculty Research Grant, Trinity College, 2004
• Barbieri Research Grant, Cesare Barbieri Endowment, 2003
• William A. Dyer Dissertation Fellowship, Brown University, 1999
• American Academy Visiting Scholar, American Academy in Rome, 1998-1999
• History of Art and Architecture Travel Fellowships, Brown University, 1996-1998
• Samuel H. Kress Travel Fellowship, 1996-1997
• Italian Studies Travel Fellowship, Brown University, 1995
• Harvard University Teaching Award, 1991
• Payette Tuition Fellowship, Harvard University, 1998-92