The Division of Art History offers a wealth of educational opportunities for students outside of the classroom. They include special lectures, symposia, study-abroad programs and the chance to participate in the division's archaeological project in Italy.
Comini Art History Lecture Series
The Comini Art History Lecture Series brings prominent national and international scholars to campus for public lectures, individual work with undergraduate and graduate students, and to stimulate cross-disciplinary exchange on campus. Invited speakers have included Carol Armstrong, Mieke Bal, Tom Cummins, Jeffrey Hamburger, Lynn Hunt, Michael Leja, Rob Nelson, Linda Nochlin, Robert Ferris Thompson, and Mimi Hall Yiengpruksawan.
Mugello Valley Archaeological Project and Poggio Colla Field School
The Mugello Valley Archaeological Project and Poggio Colla Field School is directed by Professor P. Gregory Warden. In its fifteenth year, the MVAP combines excavation, land survey, and archaeometry as part of an interdisciplinary landscape analysis of the Etruscan site of Poggio Colla and the surrounding area. The international team of archaeologists, art historians, architects, geographers, and conservators who convene each summer at the site provide a model of serious interdisciplinary collaboration for our undergraduates and graduate students who work side by side with students from Cornell, Dartmouth, Georgetown, UNC, University of Virginia, Bryn Mawr, Franklin and Marshall, University of Pennsylvania, Princeton, and Swarthmore. Learn more about the Poggio Colla Field School
Eleanor Tufts Pre-Doctoral Fellowship
The Eleanor Tufts Pre-Doctoral Fellowship is a two-year fellowship for doctoral candidates in the last stage of their Ph.D. work. The stipend supports recipients in the first year of the fellowship period as they complete their dissertation in whatever location is appropriate; the second year is spent in residence at Southern Methodist University teaching in the area of his/her specialization. Virtually unique in the nation, this fellowship has brought SMU and Art History’s graduate program national attention since its inception in 1984 and provided immeasurable benefits to our students. It provides the department with a regular infusion of “fresh blood” and frequently makes it possible to offer classes in areas underrepresented in our curriculum. We have had brilliant young scholars circulating through the department every other year from institutions that include University of California at Berkeley, University of Chicago, Columbia, Johns Hopkins, University of Michigan, MIT, NYU, University of Virginia, and Stanford. Fellows have gone on to tenure-track positions at the University of Iowa, USC, Illinois State, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, University of California, Berkeley, Rhodes College, and Union College. This unique and innovative program has given Art History at SMU national visibility, provided a valuable network for majors seeking admission to top-tier graduate programs, and helped recruit students to our M.A. program. Learn more, apply by January 15, 2011
International Programs
SMU offers students an opportunity to live, study and travel abroad in semester or year-long programs, as well as summer programs. Semester or year-long programs are maintained in Paris, Madrid, Copenhagen, Japan, Britain, Russia and Australia. The University also offers five-week summer terms in Salzburg, Austria; Oxford and London, England; Rome and Tuscany, Italy; the south of France; Xalapa, Mexico; and Moscow.
Grants and Fellowships
Haakon Travel Grants are available to graduate students needing to access museums, libraries and archives in pursuing thesis research. The Meadows Graduate Council Fund is also a source of financial support for graduate student projects. Each year up to six graduate students are awarded fellowships that cover tuition and fees and provide an additional stipend of $3500-8500 attached to teaching or research assistantships in art history.