Dr. Michaela Rife
Assistant Professor of Art
Michaela Rife is an art historian specializing in modern and contemporary art with a focus on North America and the environment. She is currently working on her first book about New Deal-era murals in the Dust Bowl region as a way to understand how art contends with environmental disaster while supporting (or resisting) settler colonialism. Her research has been supported by institutions including the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the American Antiquarian Society, the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, the Terra Foundation for American Art, and the Getty Research Institute.
Dr. Rife is passionate about teaching an inclusive version of art history, incorporating object-based learning, primary sources, and creative projects at every level. Before coming to SUNY Plattsburgh in 2023, she was a postdoctoral fellow in the Michigan Society of Fellows and History of Art at the University of Michigan.
- Education
- Ph.D. University of Toronto, 2020
- M.A. University of British Columbia, 2014
- M.A. Courtauld Institute of Art, 2011
- B.A. University of Oregon, 2010
- Recent Publications