Smithsonian American Art Museum Celebrates 50 Years of Its Preeminent Fellowship Program with New Online Resources and Symposium

For 50 years, the Smithsonian American Art Museum has hosted more than 700 residential fellows and visiting scholars through its preeminent fellowship program, the oldest and largest in the world for the field of American art. This program supports full time independent and dissertation research and provides access to a world-class network of colleagues. The museum’s fellows and visiting scholars have gone on to shape the art world as museum directors, curators, professors, critics, artists and conservators around the globe. Alumni are active in 30 foreign countries, 40 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.
To celebrate this momentous anniversary, the Smithsonian American Art Museum is hosting a free symposium featuring talks by distinguished alumni and launching a new suite of online resources, which includes video testimonials, a comprehensive, searchable directory of past and current fellows, and a timeline of the program’s history.
“The Smithsonian American Art Museum’s fellowship program has been the catalyst for new scholarship and innovative thinking in the field of American art for 50 years,” said Stephanie Stebich, the Margaret and Terry Stent Director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. “I am delighted to celebrate this great milestone by highlighting past and present SAAM fellows whose work enhances the field of American art history and ignites a passion for the arts among others.”
The museum is in the final stage of a $10 million campaign goal to secure the future of its academic programs. A total of over $7 million has been raised in the campaign for fellowships, internships and scholarly programs from more than 185 donors, including foundations, alumni fellows and other supporters of the museum’s Research and Scholars Center. Remaining campaign needs include securing long-term funding for paid summer internships, a new public scholar fellowship position and an annual distinguished scholar appointment.  Half Century of Fellowship: Wyeth Foundation SymposiumThe museum will host a virtual symposium Friday, Oct. 9, from 1 to 5:30 p.m. ET, commemorating 50 years of advancement, discovery and scholarship in the field of art history through its fellowship program. Distinguished alumni will present new research in a series of lectures and PechuKucha-style fast-paced talks that highlight efforts to expand the field in the age of Black Lives Matter, decolonization, climate change, globalization and digital scholarship. Speakers include:

• Layla Bermeo, Kristin and Roger Servison Associate Curator of Paintings, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (class of ’16)
• Kirsten Buick, professor, University of New Mexico (class of ’95)
• Wanda M. Corn, Robert and Ruth Halperin Professor Emerita, Stanford University (classes of ’79 and ’87)
• Charles C. Eldredge, Hall Distinguished Professor Emeritus, University of Kansas (class of ’79)
• Amelia Goerlitz, chair of academic programs and acting co-chief of the Research and Scholars Center, Smithsonian American Art Museum
• Dimitrios Latsis, assistant professor, Ryerson University (class of ’14)
• Caroline Riley, Judith B. and Burton P. Resnick Postdoctoral Fellow, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (class of ’20)
• Sascha Scott, associate professor, Syracuse University (class of ’07)
• Kirsten Swenson, associate professor, University of Massachusetts, Lowell (class of ’05)
• Michelle Joan Wilkinson, curator of architecture and design, Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (class of ’03)
• Tatsiana Zhurauliova, Terra Foundation Post-Doctoral Teaching Fellow, Université Paris Nanterre and Université Paris Diderot (class of ’12)