Man giving a lecture at podium to audience

Franklin D. Murphy Distinguished Alumni Lecturers

Since 2005, the department has annually invited a distinguished alumnus of our program back to KU to deliver a public lecture. The Distinguished Alumni Lecturer is also profiled in the department newsletter.

2005  James K. Ballinger

           Politics, Controversy, and Intrigue: The Unexpected in Art History

2006  Hollis B. Goodall

           From "More is Better" to "Less is More": Developments in Japanese Decorative Arts, 1880-1950

2007  Marla F. Prather

           Retrospective at Mid-Career: Some Observations on Curatorial Practice and Contemporary Art

2008  Mindy Nancarrow

           Insiders and Outsiders: The Impact of Political Transformation in Spain on Research Opportunities for Art Historians

2009  Donald A. Wood

           Buddhas and BBQ: Asian Art in the Deep South

2010  Elizabeth Broun

           Understanding American Democrazy Through American Art

2011  Matthew Welch

           Adventures in Curating: Missteps and Milestones

2012  Michael Grauer

           My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys and Indians, and other Horror Stories of an Unorthodox Historian of Art (and other stuff)

2013  Vernon Hyde Minor

           The Importance of Being Art History

2014  Corine Wegener

           From Berlin to Baghdad: When Art Historians go to War

2015  Ellen Goheen

           From Temples of Art to Venues of Entertainment: The Evolution of the Art Museum

2016  Scott A. Shields

           Three California Artists (including one you've heard of): Jules Tavernier, Armin Hansen, & Richard Diebenkorn

2017  An-Yi Pan

           Moments: Traversing Prairie, Red Rocks, and Gorges

2018  Randall Griffey

           The Yellow Brick Road to The Met: Reflections on Kansas, Art History, Then, and Now

2019  Claudia Brown

           Collecting the Arts of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911): A Personal View

2020  Mark White

           From OK to LA and Back Again

2021  Robert Mowry

           Collected Stones: The Essence of the Chinese Landscape

2022  Jan Howard

           A Curator's Journey