Our Mission
CMCS aims to promote and support scholarship and innovative pedagogy in the study of material culture. The Center has emerged as a hub for faculty and graduate students in Art, Art Conservation, Art History, CHAD, English, Fashion, Geography, History, Museum Studies, Preservation Studies and WPAMC, among others. The Center also provides a nexus for the exchange of information on national and international developments in material culture studies, working with the goal to create a connected community of scholars who share their work in a variety of media and settings. The Center aims to honor the University of Delaware’s longstanding commitment to material culture approaches by making itself a nationally and internationally recognized leader in this field.
CMCS works to generate and support innovative material culture research by engaging the leadership and participation of faculty in a variety of disciplines and fields. Affiliated faculty members specialize in everything from Museum Studies to Sociology to Criminal Justice. The Center also employs a Graduate Assistant each year to help facilitate the administrative and communication needs of the Center, including the management of our website and social media presence.
As program directors, professors, and experts, CMCS faculty regularly advise student research projects. With over sixteen programs dedicated to material culture studies, University of Delaware undergraduate and graduate students make up a large portion of the CMCS community. Read more about graduate students’ theses and dissertations.
By organizing, hosting, and sponsoring material culture events, the CMCS community continues to grow across the United States and around the world. Global connections are being made through jointly-sponsored conferences, while internationally renowned material culture scholars regularly share their research at the University of Delaware.
Leadership
- Dr. Carla Guerrón Montero – Director of the Center for Material Culture Studies, Professor, Department of Anthropology
- Dr. Mónica Domínguez Torres – Associate Director of the Center for Material Culture Studies, Professor, Department of Art History
- Dakota H. Stevens – Graduate Assistant of the Center for Material Culture Studies, PhD Candidate, Department of Art History
- Catharine Dann Roeber – Assistant Professor, Decorative Arts and Material Culture in the Winterthur Program in American Material Culture (WPAMC)
- Jennifer Van Horn – Associate Professor, Departments of Art History and History
- Petra Clark – Librarian for Special Collections, University of Delaware Library, Museums and Press
- Kedron Thomas – Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology
