SMU #51226 Assistant Professor of Art History (Medieval Art)

The Department of Art History in the Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University seeks a specialist in the art and architecture of the Medieval period broadly defined. Applications are welcome from scholars specializing in any period from AD 400-1400 whose research focuses on Europe the Mediterranean and/or culturally interconnected artistic traditions (Jewish Islamic African/Indian Ocean traditions).

The successful candidate will demonstrate a commitment to interdisciplinarity strong visual analytic skills theoretical fluency and a broad knowledge of Medieval visual culture. Potential research interests may address questions of art and thought; institutional and social/historical critiques of artistic production and reception; history and theories of vision artistic media and spatial practice; ritual performance and sacrality; interconfessional relations and exchanges; cultural poetics of gender and sexuality social identity and the political imaginary; cross-cultural exchange and interculture. We encourage candidates whose teaching would engage the resources and programs of cultural institutions on campus and in the area including the art collections at the Meadows Museum Bridwell and DeGolyer Libraries Dallas Museum of Art and the Kimbell Art Museum. We particularly encourage applications from candidates whose work crosses disciplinary/methodological boundaries engages with emerging fields and leverages or enhances the departments existing strengths.

We are a collaborative department built around innovative faculty research and teaching. Our faculty and our undergraduate MA and PhD programs pursue critical reassessment of historical and new media a broad understanding of visual/cultural/somatic technologies and a particular interest in race gender and class. We seek a colleague who will play an important role in shaping the future of research curriculum and pedagogy in department and the university.

All applicants must be able to teach introductory and upper-level undergraduate courses as well as lecture courses and undergraduate and graduate seminars in their area of specialization. The standard departmental teaching load is 2/2; the successful candidate will also advise graduate research at the MA and PhD in the Department of Art History receive leaves research and travel collaboration with colleagues in allied specialties in the Department of Art History the candidate will assume an important role in shaping the future of research curriculum and pedagogy at the institution.

Position starting date:August 1 2026. Salary commensurate with experience.

Minimum Qualifications

Ph.D. in-hand by August 2026