Graduate Studies | History of Art and Architecture

Program Overview

The History of Art & Architecture graduate program at UC Santa Barbara offers a combined M.A./Ph.D. degree, preparing students for careers in academia, museum curation, and art criticism. With a small cohort and individualized study, students benefit from close faculty mentorship and access to exceptional resources, including museums, libraries, and cultural institutions in the Los Angeles area. Graduates have a strong track record of securing faculty and curatorial positions at top institutions.

Program Outline

Degree Overview:

The History of Art & Architecture graduate program at UC Santa Barbara is designed to train scholars, critics, and museum professionals who engage with visual culture and the built environment critically. The department offers a combined M.A./Ph.D. degree. Students holding a Master’s in art or architectural history or a related discipline may be admitted directly into the Ph.D. program based on qualifications. The department does not offer a terminal M.A. degree. There are typically around 45 graduate students enrolled at any given time. The program has a small incoming cohort each year, facilitating close relationships with faculty from the outset. With 15 full-time professors, 2 continuing lecturers, and 5 affiliated faculty from other departments, students receive highly individualized study across a broad historical and geographical range of topics.

Teaching:

Graduate students are encouraged to take courses outside the department, given UCSB's strong programs in Chicana/o Studies, Film and Media Studies, and Religious Studies.

Careers:

The department boasts a successful track record of graduates securing faculty and curatorial positions at top institutions. Recent alumni hold faculty positions at the University of Texas at Austin, University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of California, Merced, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Pennsylvania State University, University of Alabama at Birmingham, and Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, among others. Many recent alumni also hold curatorial positions at institutions such as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Getty Museum, the Saint Louis Art Museum, the Williams College Museum of Art, The Huntington, Peabody Essex Museum, the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, Wichita Art Museum, the RISD Museum of Art, and the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University.

Other:

Students have access to exceptional resources, including the University of California's library system (accessible through an online request system), the Art, Design & Architecture Museum (with rotating exhibitions and hands-on museum training opportunities), the Architecture and Design Collection (one of the largest in North America), and the nearby Santa Barbara Museum of Art (housing collections in classical antiquities, European prints, Asian art, and modern Latin American art). Additionally, the cultural riches of the Los Angeles area (including the J. Paul Getty Museum and Research Institute, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, the Fowler Museum at UCLA, The Broad, and The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens) are a short drive or train ride away.