Alumni Spotlight: Kevin R. E. Greenwood

After completing my comprehensive exams at KU, I cobbled together full time work as an adjunct instructor by teaching at three institutions while working on my dissertation (and having two wonderful kids). This is not a recommended career path and resulted in the delayed completion of my degree roughly a decade later. However, teaching primarily survey courses of East Asian and South Asian art history, along with a few advanced seminars and some curatorial work, gave me a solid grounding as a generalist. In the end, this turned out to be excellent preparation for my current position as a generalist curator of Asian art at an academic art museum, which involves curation, teaching, and public speaking. As for my motivation, I am either blessed or cursed with a boundless curiosity and a love for the arts, particularly the arts and cultures of East Asia, which was an itch that the interdisciplinary character of art history allowed me to scratch.

KU provided countless opportunities for graduate students in art history interested in academic or museum work to discover their particular strengths. Under the guidance of faculty members, who are prominent in the field and exceptional career models and mentors, I was able to develop research skills, refine my approaches and arguments, and learn to write with clarity and concision. Working as a teaching assistant and later instructor of record, while balancing my own research and coursework, provided excellent experience and a chance to see if I was suited for an academic career path. Finally, working as a Carpenter Foundation Intern at the Spencer was a perfect introduction to both the joys and the practicalities of museum work.

My main advice is this: Don’t follow your passion blindly. Figure out what your strengths are, cultivate those, and see where those might dovetail with your passion. That will lead to greater success, however you define it, and a less tortuous path to it.