Research Careers for the Public Good

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Olivia McCall (she/her) is an art historian furthering scholarship on artists bearing witness to queer life and the AIDS epidemic in Downtown New York from the late 1970s through the 1990s. Her research considers photographs as living archives of alternative modes of being. Olivia completed her MA in the History of Art, awarded with High Distinction, at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London in 2022. She is presently the Edith Gowin Curatorial Fellow in the Department of Photography at The Morgan Library & Museum. For the 2023–2024 academic year, Olivia will be a Helena Rubinstein Critical Studies Fellow in the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program. 

Career Advice:

When considering graduate school in the humanities, don't be in a rush! Even though I knew I wanted to pursue graduate studies when I was a student at Barnard, I'm grateful that I waited and worked for a couple of years first. Having the opportunity to gain experience and further refine your research interest is critical, and taking a step away from being a student allows you to then approach graduate study knowing more clearly what you want to gain from it.

Anne is an urban planner who specializes in community-based planning and mobility justice. She’s been a community organizer in NYC for 10 years, and is currently at the NYC DOT working to improve mobility for people with disabilities, low income New Yorkers, and other underserved populations. Outside of work, Anne expresses her creativity through baking and loves riding her bike around the City.

Career Advice:

Your ideas deserve to be heard and the questions you have are important. Don't be afraid to take up that space, chime in, and ask why.

Christine Fena is the Undergraduate Success Librarian at Stony Brook University, where she works closely with arts and humanities departments and regularly teaches research skills and literacies through sessions and workshops. For the past 2 years, she has also worked to strengthen collaborations between high school teachers and librarians to address the research skills gap as part of the Ready for Success grant, funded by the William E. & Maude S. Pritchard Charitable Trust. She holds a PhD in musicology, an MS in information science, and her research interests include topics related to information literacy instruction, information behavior, and modernist music.

Career Advice:

Don't stop building connections and pursuing a wide range of experiences. Try things out and experiment. Don't be afraid to fail and don't feel bad if a class, internship or research experience doesn't go the way you expected -- they never do! Don't be discouraged by grades that are less than perfect -- what matters is your interest, your dedication, and your willingness to do the work and try new things. Most importantly, take care of yourself, value yourself as a unique person, pace yourself, take breaks, and be proud of your contributions to the environments you inhabit.

Bio:

Esther Moerdler is a curator and art historian with a passion for expanding the reach & exposure of artistic communities. In her career to date, she has managed to work across a variety of institutions in the art world: including museums, auction houses, galleries, and art-tech startups. Esther is the curatorial assistant at the Art Students League of New York where she works on gallery programming and exhibition curation. Her research focuses have included interwar German photography and curatorial practices related to climate change.

Career Advice:

Don't be wedded to your career "path" - it is a winding road that can take you anywhere and with flexibility any stop can take you to the career goal you wanted.