Dr. Joan Saab

Joan Saab is the executive vice president for academic affairs and provost and professor of art history at the University of Richmond. As the chief academic officer, she is responsible for the academic mission of the University including the curriculum, research programs, academic budgets, and faculty development.

She previously served as the Susan B. Anthony Professor of Art History and executive vice provost of academic affairs at the University of Rochester as well as the interim dean of the faculty of arts, sciences, & engineering. In her time at Rochester, Saab also worked as director of the Graduate Program in Visual and Cultural Studies and chair of the Department of Art and Art History. Her accomplishments include funding from the Mellon Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Getty Research Center at UCLA, as well as a University of Rochester Provost’s Research Grant.

Her first book, For the Millions: American Art and Culture Between the Wars, was the inaugural volume in The Arts and Intellectual Life in Modern America series, published by the University of Pennsylvania Press. Her most recent book, Objects of Vision: Making Sense of What We See, is part of the Perspectives on Sensory History series at Pennsylvania State University Press. She is the author of the interactive, digital book project Searching for Siqueiros, written on the digital publishing platform Scalar, and the lead editor for the Wiley Blackwell Companion to Visual Culture. She is currently completing a manuscript tentatively entitled Tales from the Crypt: Vincent Price and American Visual Culture. She is a sought-after scholar and presenter for invited talks, symposia, and conferences.

Saab earned an undergraduate degree in English and art history from Tufts University, her master's degree in American Civilization with a concentration on material culture and museum studies from The George Washington University, and her Ph.D. in American studies at New York University.