Ph.D. Program in Art History

Art History

The Ph.D. Program in Art History at the CUNY Graduate Center is dedicated to the development of scholars, teachers, museum curators, art critics, and other arts professionals.
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Ph.D. Program in Art History

The Ph.D. Program in Art History at the CUNY Graduate Center is dedicated to the development of scholars, teachers, museum curators, art critics, and other arts professionals.

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Degree Offered

Ph.D. in Art History

Full-time

Admissions Deadlines

January 1 for fall enrollment
(No spring enrollment)

Founded in 1971, the Ph.D. Program in Art History at CUNY Graduate Center is one of the foremost programs of its kind in the United States. Dedicated to the development of scholars, teachers, museum curators, art critics, and other arts professionals, our program provides students with a general background in the history of art to prepare them to serve their discipline and their communities in all areas of cultural endeavor.

In Fall 2019, we were awarded a $650,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to fund New Initiatives in Curatorial Training, a five-year project in the Ph.D. Program in Art History that aims to enhance the diversity of curatorial training at the Graduate Center and ensure the sustainability of the initiative beyond the end of Mellon funding.

We are proud to have produced a robust network of alumni, many of whom hold senior positions at esteemed universities, museums, and cultural institutions across the country and abroad. For more information about our program, its faculty and students, as well as our alumni, please follow the links below.

Art History Announcements

More Like This
Apr 16, 2023
Poster for ALQKAAS Symposium

Alum Sooran Choi Directs Cross-Gender-Ethnic-Korean-Asian Studies Initiative

Alum Sooran Choi (Art History Ph.D. '18) has won a grant from the Black, Race and Ethnic Studies Initiative at CUNY to direct a Cross-Gender-Ethnic-Korean-Asian Studies Initiative at Brooklyn College, where she teaches in the Art Department.  As part of that initiative, she is running a symposium to foreground Korean studies while taking an intersectional approach to the subject.  The symposium will be held Saturday and Sunday, April 22-23, online.  More information can be found here.

  • Announcement
Apr 14, 2023
Portrait of Luisa Valle

Luisa Valle ('22) dissertation is honored

Luisa Valle who finished her dissertation in 2022, received an Honorable Mention from the Latin American Studies Association (LASA) for her dissertation "The Beehive, the Favela, the Castle, and the Ministry: Race and Modern Architecture in Rio de Janeiro, 1811 to 1945." Congrats to Luisa! All the LASA awards are listed here

 

 

  • Congratulations/Kudos
Feb 26, 2023
Gail Levin on CUNY TV

Professor Gail Levin featured on CUNY TV

Professor Gail Levin was featured on CUNY TV's Arts in the City.  See the piece here

  • Congratulations/Kudos
Dec 19, 2022

Naiomy Guerrero accepted to a Museum Professionals Program at the Studio Museum

A round of applause goes to Naiomy Guerrero who was accepted to the Winter 2023 Museum Professionals Seminar at The Studio Museum in Harlem. The seminar is comprised of a series of workshops designed for emerging museum professionals to "incubate and ideate" their ideas.  Congrats to Naiomy!

 

  • Congratulations/Kudos
Prof. Claire Bishop’s Fall 2021 Performing Research seminar did a Moving Rasas workshop with Andrew Suseno in Hudson River Park.

Our Program

Our doctoral program provides students with a general background in the history of art to prepare them to serve their discipline and their communities in all areas of cultural endeavor. Courses given at the Graduate Center cover the broad spectrum of the history of art; courses given at the senior colleges in their master’s degree programs are also open to doctoral students, as are courses given at universities within the Interuniversity Doctoral Consortium.

Review our curriculum
graduate center building-angled view-overhead-flags

Faculty

The doctoral faculty consists of professors drawn from the Graduate Center and from the CUNY senior colleges. Courses given at the Graduate Center cover the broad spectrum of the history of art; courses given at the senior colleges in their master’s degree programs are also open to doctoral students, as are courses given at universities within the Interuniversity Doctoral Consortium.

View our faculty
Maura McCreight Art History - Photographic Archives of the Algerian War of Independence

Student Highlights

Find out more about our current doctoral students, their research interests, academic accomplishments, and professional careers. We work closely with our students to assist them with professional placement upon graduation. Many of our graduates hold prominent positions at cultural and educational institutions in the U.S. and abroad.

Read about our students

Program News

Students participate in a Risograph workshop on Governor’s Island (and created a zine in class!) in the Fall 2021

Student Handbook

Review our student handbook for our policies and procedures, resources, and other important information.

View handbook

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Contact Us

Jennifer Ball

Executive Officer and Professor, Art History; Professor, Medieval Studies

Marilyn Mercado

Assistant Program Officer, Art History