Doctor of Philosophy in Art History

Our PhD program provides scholarly challenges, research skills, and mentoring necessary for professional development and successful careers.

The PhD program in Art History prepares students to excel in premier roles in the field, as professors, museum curators, gallery directors, and other leading positions in the world of visual culture. From the moment you join our graduate program, a peer mentor will help you acclimate to the department, university, and the beautiful city. In our award-winning Art Building West, youll have a dedicated desk in our light-filled Art Library, where the windows stretch from floor to ceiling, and another in the communal TA office.

Our faculty is deeply committed to mentoring individual students and the entire cohort, ensuring personalized guidance and support throughout your academic journey. Each semester, we offer a professional development course called Colloquium, where faculty and students collaborate on practice presentations, writing successful fellowship applications, creating effective curriculum vitae, conducting archival research, job market advice, and strategies for effective teaching. Our students frequently publish academic papers and present at national and international conferences, showcasing their research and contributing to the global art history discourse.

Minimum requirements include:

• A U.S. bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited college or university, or an equivalent degree from another country as determined by the Office of Admissions.
• A minimum grade-point average (GPA) of 3.00, or the foreign equivalent as determined by the Office of Admissions.

Applicants whose first or official language is not English and whose previous academic degrees were not earned at an English-language institution must score as follows on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL): for studio art applicants, at least 550 (paper-based), 213 (computer-based), or 81 (Internet-based); for art history applicants, at least 600 (paper-based), 250 (computer-based), or 100 (Internet-based). All applicants must have a minimum iBT speaking score of 26* and a listening score of 25. Your application will not be reviewed if scores are lower than requirements.