Third-year graduate student Sasha Novozhenova died on the evening of Jan. 29, according to a Thursday email from The Graduate School Dean Teresa Woodruff.

Novozhenova, a Weinberg doctorate student in the Department of Art History, was found in her Rogers Park apartment by police, according to the email. Woodruff mentioned no cause of death, though foul play is not suspected.

Dean of Students Todd Adams told The Daily that Novozhenova was a teaching assistant and led a discussion section in the undergraduate art history course Introduction to Medieval Art. He said the Department of Art History will work with other TAs to “make sure the students are well-supported and served throughout the remainder of the course.”

“It’s terribly sad, particularly for Sasha’s family and her friends,” Adams said. “She’ll be dearly missed. It’s a tremendously difficult time and we want to extend our support to the family and friends.”

Novozhenova focused on the Soviet avant-garde, Socialist Realism and late Soviet art discourses and their post-Soviet aftermath. Before coming to NU, she taught in Moscow and contributed to multiple art journals in Russia. At Northwestern, she was also actively involved in the academic community by writing papers and contributing to key research on the Soviet avant-garde movement.

“It is a great loss to the University — and to the scholarly community in Soviet art — that we will no longer benefit from Sasha’s contributions,” Woodruff wrote in the email.

This story was updated at 8:15 p.m. on Thursday to include comment from Todd Adams.

Elizabeth Byrne contributed reporting. 

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