Faculty and Students

The Art Museums engage the Harvard community in many ways. Harvard students are our most important constituency, and we invite students to enjoy our exhibitions, use the galleries as a place to meet friends or family, and to study works of art related to their courses. Gallery talks, scholarly lectures, seminars, and symposia are offered throughout the year, presenting current research in the field of art history and related disciplines. These programs, open to the public, often feature graduate student research and dynamic scholars whose work relates to student and faculty interests.

Undergraduates may get involved by joining the Harvard Art Museums’ Undergraduate Connection (HAMUC). HAMUC is a student group focused on raising awareness about the Art Museums’ programs across campus. Last year, HAMUC’s social events drew nearly a thousand students and featured refreshments, sketching stations, and live music. For more information about HAMUC, please contact Akiko Yamagata at 617-495-9515.

Experienced museum educators and curators are available to consult with faculty in various disciplines on how the collections might support course goals. Our educators are enthusiastic generalists, with graduate training in various humanities disciplines and experience engaging students with original works of art. They are available to give workshops for Teaching Fellows in preparation for section meetings, develop course-specific materials for students to use in the galleries independently, and provide digital files for use in PowerPoint presentations. The primary focus, however, is on developing and leading gallery experiences that relate directly to course readings and topics of discussion.

Contact Museum Educator Akiko Yamagata at 617-495-9515 to learn more about our newly expanded resources to support collections-based teaching at the Harvard Art Museums. Akiko and others among the Art Museums’ staff of curators and educators work closely with faculty to develop course-related content and gallery experiences that feature works now on display in the Sackler Museum, as well as digital images of works in storage. The renovation of our building at 32 Quincy Street will also include a new Study Center complex in which works from storage may be made available to faculty and students in study and seminar rooms, as well as space for informal installations especially designed to support courses throughout Harvard University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS).