Alumni News: Stephanie Wiles Named Director of The Yale University Art Gallery

GC Art History alumna Stephanie Wiles, class of  2001, is an expert in old master drawings and has served in museum leadership roles at several universities. Her dissertation surveyed the careers of British-born artists Thomas Charles Farrer, a Ruskin admirer and leader of the American Pre-Raphaelites, and his brother Henry Farrer.

“I’m looking forward to better understanding how the permanent collection and temporary exhibitions might intersect so collections are used dynamically to creatively introduce new ideas to audiences,” said Wiles, who will start the her new position at the Yale University Art Gallery in July.

Wiles is currently the Richard J. Schwartz Director of the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University. Previously, she was the director of Oberlin College’s Allen Memorial Art Museum. Last year, she launched a unique collaborative exhibition, “Lines of Inquiry: Learning from Rembrandt’s Etchings,” which included new research by curators at both the Johnson Museum and at Oberlin.

Wiles started her career as a full-time curator in the Morgan Library and Museum’s department of drawings and prints while she working toward her Ph.D. “I appreciated the GC’s flexibility in allowing me to combine my curatorial career with challenging graduate courses and research projects,” she said. “Not only did this help me learn to balance a very busy schedule, but it also kept me doing what I love to do best: looking at original works of art every day and being introduced to new ways of seeing as presented by my professors.”