Assistant Professor , Ph.D.

Visual Art Studies | Art Museum Education

Department of Art & Art History

mayermm@austin.utexas.edu

- Office: ART 3.416

- Phone: +1 512-471-5319

- Mail Code: - D1300

Melinda M. Mayer is an art museum educator whose research examines crosscurrents between art history, culture, and pedagogy in the museum. She authored two chapters, "New Art Museum Education(s)" and "Scintillating Conservations in Art Museums" in the National Art Education Association's new book, From Periphery to Center: Art Museum Education in the 21st Century. Recent articles by Dr. Mayer have appeared in the journals Studies in Art Education, Art Education, and The Journal of Aesthetic Education. She recently completed a term as the Instructional Resources Coordinator for Art Education.

Dr. Mayer regularly presents at state, regional, and national conferences. She has been the keynote speaker for programs at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Portland Museum of Art in Oregon, and the Farnsworth Art Museum and Wyeth Center in Rockland, Maine.

Prior to coming to UT, Dr. Mayer was on the art education faculty at University of North Texas (UNT) in Denton. While at UNT she served as a co–director of the North Texas Institute for Educators on the Visual Arts (NTIEVA). This position brought together her knowledge of issues regarding K–12 art education and art museum education. The NTIEVA appointment was in part the outgrowth of her experience as a national cross-site grant evaluator for The Getty Education Institute.

Until pursuing her doctorate, Melinda Mayer was a practicing art museum educator. She earned her bachelor's degree with majors in both Art History and Elementary Education from Principia College in Elsah, Illinois in 1976. In 1981 she completed a master's degree in Art Education with Museum Specialty from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. Her doctorate in Art Education, awarded in 1999, is from The Pennsylvania State University. Melinda Mayer was a recipient of a 1995 Getty Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship.