Art Collection Curator – Doris Ulmann Galleries, Berea College

Berea College welcomes applications for a full-time staff position to manage the Doris Ulmann Galleries, maintain the Berea College Art Collection and teach two courses per year. Berea College is an undergraduate work college that offers a BA in Art with concentrations in art history and studio. The Ulmann Galleries support student learning across the liberal arts curriculum. The Art Collection includes over 15,000 objects from around the world, including 6,000 original Doris Ulmann photographs, and is particularly strong in prints, contemporary ceramics, and Asian art.

This position coordinates the care, maintenance, and research of the permanent collection and manages rotating exhibitions including: working with artists to schedule and install exhibitions, training and supervising student workers, designing promotional and outreach materials and programming, preparing and staging receptions, working with Development and the Department to sustain relationships with donors, implementing and updating all relevant policies and procedures, conducting tours, coordinating with the Department on operating budgets, coordinating with Departmental Building Manager on safety, security, and building maintenance, and coordinating and communicating with the campus NAGPRA officer. The anticipated teaching load is two courses per year, including one in museum studies. Innovative teaching using the Art Collection encouraged.

Applicants should have graduate degree(s) in Art History, Museum Studies, Curatorial Studies, Studio Art or related fields with relevant professional experience in collections, exhibitions, and teaching. The ideal candidate brings a commitment to promoting visual art as part of the mission of an undergraduate liberal arts college; a desire to work with contemporary artists and Berea faculty and staff; excitement in working with Berea College students; experience in collections management and exhibition design involving a variety of media; digital/web skills; and strong communication, interpersonal, organizational and collaboration skills. This is a 12-month position beginning August 2022, and Berea College seeks candidates that can connect with our diverse student body. 

Candidates should submit: 1) a letter of application that directly addresses Berea College and this position, 2) curriculum vitae, 3) examples of scholarly/creative/museum work such as materials from exhibitions the candidate has contributed to, 4) teaching philosophy, 5) graduate transcripts (unofficial accepted), and 6) contact information for two recommenders to: https://tinyurl.com/2p8entv7.

Applications reviewed on a rolling basis. For full consideration all application materials must be received by March 25, 2022.

About the Berea College Art and Art History Department: we believe in interdisciplinary connections, the dialogue inspired by great ideas, texts, and works of art, and the goals of the liberal arts experience to answer questions as to what it means to be a thinking, feeling, and productive undergraduate student and art historian. For more information on the Berea College Art and Art History Department, see https://www.berea.edu/art/ and on the Doris Ulmann Galleries, see: https://dulmanngalleries.berea.edu/.

Founded in 1855, Berea College achieved national distinction as the first coeducational and interracial college in the South. Berea has a longstanding commitment to interracial education and is one of the most racially diverse private liberal arts colleges in the United States. With an emphasis on service to Appalachia and beyond, Berea enrolls 1,600 students from 43 states and U.S. territories and more than 70 countries. Berea College only admits students who are unable to afford tuition and provides all of them a no-tuition promise, valued at more than $178,000 over four years. Berea’s students excel in the College’s supportive yet demanding academic environment, and many are the first in their families to graduate college. As one of nine federally recognized Work Colleges, all Berea students hold a position in which they work 10-12 hours weekly. In 2021, Berea College once again topped the list of “Best Value Colleges” in the nation in The Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education (THE) College Rankings. Berea’s no-tuition model contributed to its No. 1 best-value ranking. Forbes cited a 2021 study of nearly 400 colleges in the United States, in which Berea College ranks second in terms of affordability and academic quality. And in 2021 The Princeton Review cited Berea College as “one of the nation’s best institutions for undergraduates to earn their college degree.” The publication also recognized Berea as a Best Value College, based on academic rigor, affordability and graduates’ career outcomes; a Best Green College; and a Tuition-Free School.

Located where the Bluegrass Region meets the Cumberland Mountains, the town of Berea (pop. 16,000) lies forty miles south of Lexington and is approximately two hours from Cincinnati, Louisville, and Knoxville. More information about Berea College is available at www.berea.edu.

Berea College, in light of its mission in the tradition of impartial love and social equality, welcomes all people of the earth to learn and work here.

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