LATROBE, PA – Saint Vincent College has named Elizabeth E. Barker, PhD, as director of the Verostko Center for the Arts and curator of the Saint Vincent Art & Heritage Collections.
“We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Barker as our new director and curator, as she brings her exceptional expertise and experience to the Verostko Center and Saint Vincent College,” said Dr. Elaine Bennett, dean of the School of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. “Building on the solid foundation established by founding director Andy Julo, Dr. Barker will elevate our artistic mission by developing the Roman Verostko Archives and creating enriching and transformative experiences that deeply engage our campus and regional communities and beyond.”
A native of Brunswick, Maine, Lizzie received her BA in the history of art from Yale College, and her MA and PhD from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, where her research focused on Italian Renaissance drawing and British Romantic painting.
Barker began her career as a curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art before moving into directorship roles at Colgate University’s Picker Art Gallery, Amherst College’s Mead Art Museum, the Boston Athenæum, and the Frick Pittsburgh. She is a recipient of the New York State Historical Association’s Henry Allen Moe Prize, The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Theodore Rousseau Fellowship, New York University's Robert Lehman Fellowship, Yale University’s A. Conger Goodyear Award in the History of Art and others. She was a finalist for the William M. B. Berger Prize for British Art History and for the Art Newspaper/AXA Art Exhibition Catalogue Award.
“I’m excited to be returning to the creative activities that first drew me to museum work—researching, exhibiting, and teaching with art,” explained Barker, who will also be teaching a course in fall 2025 that will explore sacred spaces around the globe throughout human history, using Saint Vincent’s collections and other local resources to bring the subject to life. “I want to build on the outstanding work of my predecessor, Andy Julo, to make the Verostko Center a laboratory for object-based learning for Saint Vincent students and a welcoming destination for all visitors—a shining example of the Benedictine value of inclusive hospitality.” When she is not curating, Lizzie enjoys spending time with her rambunctious rescue dogs and human family members, reading, baking and traveling.
Dr. Elizabeth Barker
