Deputy Director of Curatorial and Academic Affairs and Curator of American Art

Position Summary

The Deputy Director of Curatorial and Academic Affairs and Curator of American Art is a faculty, non‑tenure track, senior leadership role at the Georgia Museum of Art, responsible for setting and executing the museum’s curatorial vision across its entire collection and exhibition program. Reporting to the Director, the Deputy Director provides strategic direction for exhibitions, acquisitions, publications, and academic programming, while ensuring the museum’s curatorial mission is deeply integrated with the teaching, research, and public service goals of the University of Georgia.

The Deputy Director leads and mentors a team of curators and curatorial staff, serves as a primary spokesperson for the museum’s collections and exhibitions, and plays a key role in long‑range institutional planning.

• Master’s degree in art history, history, museum studies, or a related field.

• Expertise in at least one area of American art and broad familiarity across the field from the colonial period through the present.
• At least two years of experience curating and organizing major exhibitions and publications.

• Ph.D. in art history, history, museum studies, or a related field.
• Established national or international professional network in the museum and art history fields.
• Advanced arts management training.

• Deep knowledge of museum collections management, ethical and legal standards for acquisitions, and conservation principles.
• Proven ability to lead, supervise, and mentor professional staff.
• Strong record of scholarly research and publication.
• Excellent skills in budget and project management.
• Demonstrated success in donor cultivation and relationship building.
• Outstanding verbal and written communication skills, including public speaking.
• Ability to work collaboratively across departments and with a range of stakeholders, including faculty, students, artists, collectors, and community members.
• Bold, collaborative, and community‑minded leader.
• Distinguished record of scholarly achievement, exhibition development, and donor cultivation.
• Passion for connecting the museum’s resources to audiences on campus and beyond.
• Familiarity with an academic museum environment.
• Past success securing grants and other external funding.

• Set the strategic direction for the Museum’s exhibition program, ensuring rigorous, innovative, and wide‑ranging programming that reflects current scholarship and engages broad audiences.
• Oversee the care and development of the Museum’s American art collection, including acquisitions, deaccessions, provenance research, gift assessment, and donor cultivation; manage the departmental budget.
• Conceptualize, research, and organize exhibitions and gallery installations drawn from the permanent collection and loans from other institutions and private collections, with deep expertise in at least one area of American art and broad familiarity across the field from the colonial period through the present.
• Conduct and publish original scholarly research on American art and artists through peer‑reviewed journals, exhibition catalogs, and other scholarly platforms; present at national and international conferences.
• Build and sustain relationships with artists, scholars, collectors, and peer institutions to support exhibitions, research, and programming related to the American art collection.
• Promote the Museum’s reputation in the field through participation in national and international professional organizations.
• Host and collaborate with guest curators, artists, scholars, and critics, including occasional residencies and symposia.
• Supervise and mentor direct reports, fostering a collaborative and intellectually ambitious departmental culture.
• Work closely with conservators and registrars to assess conservation needs, ensure proper documentation, and maintain the highest standards of collection care.

• Provide strategic oversight of the Learning and…