Graduate Student

Emily joined the Department of History of Art and Architecture in August 2016, as a PhD student under the supervision of Professor Kirk Savage. She specializes in art of the United States, with a particular interest in political portraiture and exhibition history. Her master’s thesis, “Enabling Authority: Ellen Emmet Rand, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Power of Portraiture,” explored questions of female creative agency, cultural memory, and identity formation. Before arriving at Pitt, Emily was the Koch Curatorial Fellow at the Fitchburg Art Museum, an opportunity that sparked her interest in museum social responsibility and activism.