Amelia Goerlitz, Chair of Academic Programs
Amelia Goerlitz, chair of academic programs, joined the staff of the Smithsonian American Art Museum in 2003. Goerlitz oversees the oldest and largest residential fellowship program in the field of American art, and is responsible for advancing scholarship through the organization of special symposia, seminars, and other forums. She serves as vice-chair of the Association of Research Institutes in Art History (ARIAH), a consortium of twenty-seven member institutes, and is a delegate to the Smithsonian Congress of Scholars.
Goerlitz has organized six major symposia at the museum with a particular focus on American art in a global context. She co-edited with Cynthia Mills and Lee Glazer East-West Interchanges in American Art: A Long and Tumultuous Relationship (Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press, 2012). From 2003 to 2007, she assisted with the publication of the museum’s peer-reviewed journal, American Art. Goerlitz wrote the introduction, titled “Mapping a Transnational American Art History,” to a package of essays for the thirtieth anniversary issue of American Art (Summer 2017).
Goerlitz earned a bachelor’s degree from Earlham College and a master’s degree in art history from the University of Texas at Austin; her thesis examined Luis Camnitzer’s print series Uruguayan Torture.
About the Smithsonian American Art Museum and its Renwick Gallery
The Smithsonian American Art Museum is the flagship museum in the United States for American art and craft. It is home to one of the most significant and inclusive collections of American art in the world. The museum’s main building, located at Eighth and G streets N.W., is open daily from 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. The museum’s Renwick Gallery, a branch museum dedicated to contemporary craft, is located on Pennsylvania Avenue at 17th Street N.W. and is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Check online for current hours and admission information. Admission is free. Follow the museum on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube. Smithsonian information: (202) 633-1000. Museum information (recorded): (202) 633-7970. Website: americanart.si.edu.