Jane Carpenter-Rock, Deputy Director for Museum Content and Outreach

Jane Carpenter-Rock is the deputy director for museum content and outreach at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. She is responsible for overseeing the museum’s departments for Education, Conservation, External Affairs and Digital Strategies and the Research and Scholars Center. Her tenure began March 14, 2022. 

Carpenter-Rock joins the museum staff after a 20-year career at the U.S. Department of State. She was director of the orientation division at the Foreign Service Institute (2021–2022), deputy director of the National Museum of American Diplomacy (2018–2021), deputy director of the Office of Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, Bureau of African Affairs (2016–2018) and public affairs officer at the U.S. Consulate General in Cape Town, South Africa (2013–2016).  

While at the State Department, Carpenter-Rock spoke regularly to the public and published about the history, skills and tools of American diplomacy. She also serves on the editorial board of the Foreign Service Journal and is a member of the Reves International Advisory Board at the College of William & Mary. 

Carpenter-Rock earned a bachelor’s degree from the College of William & Mary (1992), a master’s degree from Howard University (1995) and a doctorate from the University of Michigan (2002). As a student, Carpenter-Rock participated in two of the museum’s prestigious programs: she was a curatorial intern through the museum’s advanced level program (1995–1996) and a predoctoral fellow (2000–2002). Her dissertation was titled “Conjure Woman: Betye Saar and Rituals of Transformation, 1960–1990.” She is also the author of Betye Saar, part of the David C. Driskell Series of African American Art (2003).