Joint Appointment between Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh and the Department of History of Art and Architecture at the University of Pittsburgh
Lecturer in Curatorial Studies
The Department of History of Art and Architecture (HAA) at the University of Pittsburgh and the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh (CMP) are strongly committed to excellence in research, and to inclusive curatorial and teaching practices that promote collaboration, diversity, and expanding our public outreach. To further our leadership in these areas we seek to hire a Lecturer in Curatorial Studies who will work both as a scholar-teacher in HAA’s dynamic art history department and as a curator with the unique cross-disciplinary collections of the Carnegie Museums. This appointment is the result of a major grant given to HAA by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, for the purpose of creating a collaborative consortium between HAA and museums in the Pittsburgh region. The appointment is for four years, starting September 1, 2015, and is outside the tenure stream, but may be renewable pending budget authorization.
HAA and CMP are committed to the study and understanding of art and artifacts across the world from the ancient to the contemporary. HAA has a strong record of research productivity in the arts and architecture of East Asia, South Asia, the ancient Mediterranean, Europe from the Middle Ages to the present, the Americas, and global contemporary art. The department also has a highly innovative “Constellations” PhD program, an active University Art Gallery with its own curator, and a Visual Media Workshop that serves as a hub for Digital Humanities research and collaboration at the University of Pittsburgh: http://www.haa.pitt.edu. CMP encompasses four museums: Carnegie Museum of Art, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Carnegie Science Center, and The Andy Warhol Museum: http://www.carnegiemuseums.org. The Warhol is home to an internationally renowned collection of artworks by Andy Warhol, along with archival holdings of approximately 500,000 objects. The Museum of Art’s collection of more than 35,000 objects features a broad spectrum of visual arts, including painting and sculpture; prints and drawings; photographs; architectural casts, renderings, and models; decorative arts and design; and film, video, and digital imagery. It also houses the archive of nearly 80,000 negatives by photographer Charles “Teenie” Harris. The Natural History Museum’s collection comprises 22 million objects and scientific specimens used to broaden understanding of evolution, conservation, and biodiversity. Its anthropological collection of 1.6 million ethnological and historical specimens and archaeological artifacts includes major research collections from Central Africa, Asia (China and Japan), Australia, North America (Arctic, Southwest, Plains, Northwest Coast), and South America (Amazonia), as well as other notable collections.
We welcome applications from scholar-curators across the entire scope of our collections and areas of inquiry, from the disciplines of art history, anthropology, and material culture. We are particularly interested in attracting applicants who take innovative approaches to their field, and who are committed to connecting their area of specialty to larger intellectual frameworks that cut across fields and disciplines and that contribute in compelling ways to the broad mission of the public humanities. HAA’s Constellations program was recently put into place with this goal in mind. CMP has also undertaken parallel initiatives, such as establishing art-science “Nexus Projects” that leverage the museums’ collective assets and recruiting a Public Fellow through the American Council of Learned Societies.
The successful candidate will have home bases in HAA and CMP. The individual will teach one course per year in HAA’s thriving undergraduate museum studies program, which draws students not only from art history and studio arts, but also from history, anthropology, and other disciplines in the Arts & Sciences. The Lecturer in Curatorial Studies will work collaboratively with students and faculty from HAA and other departments at the university interested in teaching and research with the collections at CMP; and will facilitate internships and other experiential learning opportunities for students. The individual will also devote 50% of the position time serving as Assistant/Associate Curator (depending on qualifications) in CMP with a home base in one museum while helping to foster connections across CMP’s collections and programs. S/he will be expected to contribute to one larger exhibition and/or to create smaller, experimental exhibitions, some of these working with undergraduates in HAA’s museum studies program, at a range of potential venues including CMP and the University Art Gallery.
PHD or equivalent combination of training and practice such as an MA/ MFA with related research, curatorial, and teaching experience is expected. Applications are due no later than April 10, 2015 and should be sent electronically as a single PDF file to HAA Administrative Assistant, Molly Sabol at mks89@pitt.edu. The file should have a cover letter that includes a research and teaching statement and discusses the applicant’s approach to museum curation and the opportunities afforded by this joint appointment. It should also include a curriculum vitae, list of three references, brief teaching portfolio, description of the applicant’s museum experience, and a writing sample or publication.
Salary and benefits will be paid by the University of Pittsburgh; annual evaluations of the employee will be conducted by the Chair of HAA and the Chief Curator (or equivalent) of the home museum at CMP. The University of Pittsburgh and CMP are Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity Employers. We especially encourage applications from women, minorities, and underrepresented groups.
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