The College of Humanities and Social Sciences is proud to honor Dr. Liz Andrews with the 2023 Distinguished Alumni Award in Cultural Studies. She holds a B.A. in American Studies from Wesleyan University, an M.A. in Arts and Politics from Tisch School of Arts at NYU, and a Ph.D. in Cultural Studies from George Mason University.
Dr. Liz Andrews has been the Executive Director of Spelman College Museum of Fine Art since 2021. Prior to joining the Spelman Museum, she was the Executive Administrator in the Director’s Office of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Her curatorial projects at LACMA included The Obama Portraits Tour and Black American Portraits, an exhibition covering 200 years of portraiture.
Her career is defined by a long-standing commitment to engaging undergraduate students through research and the arts. Prior to LACMA, she was a doctoral student at George Mason University, where she co-taught the multi-year Mason Science of Diversity Project. After graduating, she continued to engage with undergraduate students as a guest instructor in Art History at George Mason. Her classes challenged students to reconsider the roles of art in society and develop critical research projects. While working as an administrator in the Department of Photography & Imaging at Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, Dr. Andrews advised students and organized public conferences on Black figures and beauty.
Reflecting on her time as a student in the GMU Cultural Studies program, she says, "it embraces the idea that you are versed in ways of seeing and thinking critically about the world" and is "invaluable for her work at the intersection of the arts and social justice." You can read more about Dr. Andrews here.
September 25, 2023