Art History & Museum Studies, BA

Blend history and theory with practical experience. Learn visual literacy, critical thinking, and research skills that enable you to thrive in the art world.

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Learn Through Internships

Complete two semester-long internships at fine arts museums, commercial galleries, and nonprofit organizations around the San Francisco Bay Area. Gain curatorial experience. Collaborate with artists, patrons, and clients. You’ll jump start your career in the museum world, gaining real-world experience that will prepare you for life after graduation.

Thrive Beyond the Arts

Combining academic training with hands-on, professional experience, this program is designed to help you thrive in a variety of careers such as museum and art gallery administration, curating and collections management, arts education, business, law, development, public relations, project management, and more.

Careers

Learn the Art of Research

Explore the history of art. Write about art more persuasively. Through research and analysis, you discover the historical and cultural importance of art and architecture, and present your findings in a range of public settings.

Program Overview

Students setting up the Elemental Exposures exhibition in USF's Thacher Gallery.

Students view Asian inspired street art in San Francisco’s Chinatown, the oldest Chinatown in North America.

Art History & Museum Studies students look at books on display at an exhibition.

The program is strengthened by its location in the heart of the city. With everything being a few bus stops away, places such as the SFMOMA and the DeYoung became frequent spaces of learning."

Jordán Sandoval ’22

Plan an Exhibition

Curate an art show right here on campus. Plan your exhibition space on the hilltop's very own Thacher Gallery and Donohue Rare Book Room.

Thacher Gallery

Donohue Rare Book Room

Student Docents Lead Thacher Gallery Tours

Undergraduates from the Department of Art + Architecture have led over two dozen class tours of Yolanda M. López: Women’s Work is Never Done, reaching nearly 500 students across the disciplines — from finance to design, fine arts to computer science.

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