The Art History Program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst was established in 1969 within the Department of Art. In 2014, the Program became the Department of the History of Art and Architecture. It is the only program at a public institution in New England that offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees in the field. In our program, we emphasize the cultures of Western Europe, Islam, the Americas, and East Asia.
The discipline of art and architectural history examines visual culture and the built environment within their social and historical contexts. The History of Art and Architecture major at the university provides students with a solid foundation in the history of art and architecture produced in diverse regions and cultures, and from all periods of human history. Here, you'll learn to analyze works of art and material objects and to interpret them by making interdisciplinary connections with the political, economic, technological, religious, and other endeavors of the region and culture in which they were made.
We maintain strong ties to area museums. The University Museum of Contemporary Art in the Fine Arts Center holds the university’s art collection, composed primarily of 20th century prints, drawings, and photographs. The professionally staffed museum mounts several large-scale exhibitions each year, and our students—both undergraduate and graduate—participate in planning exhibitions and managing the collection. Other Five College institutions have notable collections of art from around the world, offering numerous opportunities for firsthand study and research. The Smith College Museum of Art is one of the most significant museums of its type in the nation. Amherst College’s Mead Art Museum is especially rich in North American painting, decorative arts and Japanese art, and the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum houses important ancient, Islamic, the Americas, and Asian art. Our students frequently visit the museums in Williamstown, Springfield, Worcester, and Hartford. Field trips or bus trips at reduced rates are regularly organized to museums in Boston and New York.
We also have strong ties to the University’s Digital Scholarship Center (DSC). The DSC staff assist faculty and students in the use of digital image technology in the classroom and provide digital image resources for the Department and the campus community. Located in room 620 of the W.E.B. Du Bois Library, the DSC currently provides access to approximately 1.5 million digital images through local and licensed collections, including ARTstor and LUNA Commons collections. The DSC staff conducts training sessions in the use of these and other image-related tools.
The University of Massachusetts Amherst is a community of people from diverse racial, ethnic, and class backgrounds, national origins, and of different ages, religious and political beliefs, sexual orientations, gender identities, and physical abilities. In the Department of the History of Art and Architecture, we are committed to fostering a civil environment of mutual respect. We believe that our interactions with one another are enriched by our diversity and by our acceptance of one another. And we strive to create a space in which the academic goal of free inquiry can be pursued in the confidence that open investigation will be cultivated by civility, fairness, and politeness. Just as we the faculty are devoted to promoting civility, we call upon you to accord each other the respect that everyone deserves, regardless of age, racial, ethnic, and class backgrounds, national origins, religious and political beliefs, sexual orientations, gender identities, and physical abilities.
Meet Timothy M. Rohan, Department Chair and Associate Professor
Timothy M. Rohan is an architectural historian whose research focuses on modernism, especially of the post-World War II era. Professor Rohan also considers in his research and teaching the architecture, urbanism, landscape, and design of Europe, North America and beyond from 1750 to the present. Professor Rohan has a BA from Yale University and a PhD from Harvard University (2001). He gained museum experience while working at the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum.