Academic Programs

PHD in Art History

The University of Oklahoma School of Art is pleased to announce a new Ph.D. program in art history.  This unique program, the first of its kind, has two distinct emphases:

Native American Art History
and
Art of the American West

The School of Art is the largest, most comprehensive art school in Oklahoma and is the only institution in the state to offer a doctoral program in art history.  The School of Art serves approximately 400 undergraduate and graduate level students in art history, media, studio and visual communications with a faculty of 26 full-time artists, designers, scholars, a full-time Sculptor-in-Residence, the H. Russell Pitman Professor of Art History and the Charles Marion Russell Memorial Chair of Art in the American West. The School of Art is dedicated to promoting, pursuing and supporting creative activity and scholarly research in the visual arts on both the graduate and undergraduate levels. 

The School of Art houses extensive research material through the Indigenous Art Resources, including books, publications, journals and articles, many of which are out of print; the Slide/Media Resources include more than 250,000 slides, digital images and videos; and the Charles M. Russell Center for the Study of Art of the American West.  These resources are combined with the University of Oklahoma’s Libraries, including a Fine Arts Library and the Western History Collection Library that contains numerous archives relating to the history of the American West. 

In addition, the University is home to two very fine museums: the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History and the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art.   The University’s Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art has undergone a major expansion to house its recently enhanced collections and has significant holdings of Western American and Native American art. Strengths of the 8,000-object permanent collection are French Impressionism, American painting, (especially Taos and Santa Fe) and sculpture (including 20th-Century, Modernism and Southwestern), contemporary art, Native American art, Byzantine icons, Asian art, and photography. Both museums have significant holdings of Native American weaving, pottery, painting, beading and sculpture from Indian nations throughout Oklahoma and the United States. 

The University of Oklahoma is only thirty minutes from the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, approximately two hours from the Gilcrease and Philbrook museums in Tulsa and about three hours from the Amon Carter Museum in Ft. Worth.  Under construction on the south side of Oklahoma City is a Native American Cultural Center and museum.  Oklahoma has thirty-nine federally recognized tribes and is rich in tribal culture, art and historic resources. 

Members of the core faculty include:

Mary Jo Watson, Director of the School of Art and Regents' Professor (Native American Art History)

W. Jackson Rushing III, Eugene Adkins Presidential Professor of Art History and Mary Lou Milner Carvar Chair in Native American Art (Modern Contemporary, and Native American Art)

B. Byron Price, Director of the Charles M. Russell Center for the Study of Art of the American West and Charles Marion Russell Professor of Art History (Art of the American West and Museum Studies)

Alisan Fields, Mary Lou Milner Carvar Professarship in Art History (Art of the American West)

Kenneth Haltman, H. Russell Pitman Professor of Art History (Art of the American West and American Art)

Other art history faculty include:

Rozmeri Basic (Ancient and Byzantine Art), Susan Caldwell (Medieval, Modern, and Contemporary Art), Allison Palmer (Renaissance and Baroque Art), and Victor Youritzin (Nineteenth-Century and American Art, Museum Studies).  Searches have commenced to augment the program faculty with two new endowed professorships in these areas with a search for an endowed chair to begin in 2009.

PhD Application

Graduate College Application

MA/PHD Handbook 2009-2010

The University of Oklahoma is an equal opportunity institution.  For more information about this new Ph.D. program, please contact the School of Art at:

University of Oklahoma

School of Art

520 Parrington Oval, Room 202
Norman, OK  73019
405.325.2691 Fax 405.325.1668
art.ou.edu