ARTH:3994 Art History Practicum (Spring 2027)

Offered in collaboration with the Stanley Museum of Art, students will have the opportunity to “shop” for a new acquisition for the museum. Students choose an artwork, conduct research, and write an acquisition proposal. At the end of the semester, curators from the museum will pick an object to add to the museum’s permanent collection. [download course poster]

ARTH:4070 The Art of Curation: Designing an Exhibition

Students get the opportunity to curate an exhibition and write a small catalogue.

In Spring 2026, Professor Anna Isbell’s course curated the show Crescendo: Eve Drewelowe’s Momentum towards Rebellious Self Discovery which was on view in the Levitt Gallery (ABW) in May 2026. [download exhibition catalogue]

In Fall 2026, Professor Amy Huang will teach the class centering on a group of contemporary paintings from Myanmar, recently acquired by the Stanley Museum of Art. The exhibition will be on view in the SMA’s Visual Laboratory in Fall 2026. Prior to this, Professor Huang’s class ARTH:3250 Brushwork in Chinese Art have organized an exhibition under the same model in Fall 2024. [catalogue and website] [media coverage]

Stanley Museum of Art Student Teaching Fellow

In 2026-27 the Stanley Museum of Art is offering a paid opportunity where select students from SAAHD are trained to lead peer-to-peer tours at the museum. (application closed on 5/1/2026)

Undergraduate Art History Symposium

We invite undergraduate students with an interest in art history to submit an abstract for the Undergraduate Art History Symposium, which will be hosted by the Art History Division at the University of Iowa on Wednesday, April 1st from 1:30 to 3:20 p.m. in 116 Art Building West (ABW).

Presenting your research at this symposium offers you the opportunity to engage in intellectual exchange not only with other young scholars throughout the region but also with graduate students and faculty at the University of Iowa. If your abstract is accepted, you will receive one-on-one mentorship from a University of Iowa graduate student mentor as you polish your paper in the weeks before presenting it. 

We welcome abstracts for fifteen-minute presentations on any aspect of art history. Ideally, the presentation should be based on a paper that you have written for an art history course. But it could also be a paper you wrote for a course in a related discipline, like classics or history, that focuses on material culture.

Your presentation abstract should include your name, e-mail address, and title of the presentation. The abstract of the presentation should be no more than 200 words in length and summarize your topic and the key points of the research that you plan to present. If you have further questions about what should be included in the abstract or the presentation, please contact anna-isbell@uiowa.edu. 

Where do I submit my abstract?

Please submit your abstract via email to anna-isbell@uiowa.edu. Abstracts are due no later than Friday, February 20th, 2026.

Study abroad for art history majors

Art history majors are encouraged to explore study abroad programs, especially those that permit the exploration of artworks in their original cultural contexts.

For information about study abroad programs in general, review these resources from UI International Programs (IP):

• First steps toward studying abroad
• Art and art history international opportunities
• Finances and funding opportunities

For planning your art history course sequence in particular, be sure to consider carefully how classes you might take abroad can relate to those that you will take at UI. For information about petitioning for art history credit for courses taken abroad, please consult the following:

Internships

Art history majors are encouraged to pursue internship opportunities. Internship is required for students in the Art, Museum, and Museology (AMM) track and optional for other majors. You can find more information on internships and funding sources on the AMM track page.

Start by registering an account on Handshake and setting up email notifications for relevant opportunities.

There are a number of funding sources to support your paid or unpaid internships, including Art History undergraduate scholarships and Hawkeye Experience Grant.

Please arrange a meeting with Art History DUS to discuss your internship: https://art.uiowa.edu/people/amy-huang

Research Experience

Students who are interested in pursuing research experiences are encouraged to look into opportunities offered through the Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR).

You may approach a faculty member to discuss the possibility of doing a research project under their supervision funded by the ICRU Fellowship.

OUR also offers Student Travel Awards. Additional funding for undergraduate research include John and Elsie Mae Ferentz Fund and the Dewey Stuit Fund.