Whitney Davis (born April 15, 1958) is an art historian, writer, and theorist. Davis has been teaching at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

in the art history department since 2001 as the George C. and Helen N. Pardee Professor of History and Theory of Ancient and Modern Art. In addition to an extensive list of publications in the field of Western art history, Davis has made major contributions to the field of queer theory and LGBTQ studies, such as the 1998 essay "'Homosexualism,' Gay and Lesbian Studies, and Queer Theory in Art History."

Career

Early academic career

Whitney Davis attended

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

, earning an A.B. in 1980, later attending

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

to earn an A.M. in 1982 and Ph.D. in 1985. During this time, Davis held a position as a Junior Fellow in the Society of Fellows at Harvard from 1983–86, and wrote a dissertation titled ''The Canonical Tradition in Ancient Egyptian Art''.

Early teaching career

Prior to holding a teaching position at the University of California, Berkeley, Davis taught at

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

from 1987 to 2001. During this time, Davis served as the Director of the Alice Berline Kaplan Center for the Humanities from 1995 to 1998, and as the John Evans Professor of Art History from 1998 to 2001.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Whitney 1958 births American art historians Women art historians Queer theorists Harvard College alumni University of California, Berkeley College of Letters and Science faculty Theorists on Western civilization Living people Historians from California