This year, the Department of Art History is starting a new tradition. In order to celebrate the achievements of our alumni and to encourage our students on their own paths to success, we will honor museum professionals Matthew McLendon (BA 2000) and Daniel Noel (BA 2017) with respectively the first FSU Art History Professional Achievements Award and the first FSU Art History Emerging Professional Award.
On Friday, November 8, Matthew and Daniel will meet our graduate and undergraduate students and present their achievements in light of their experience in our department. The award ceremony begins at 4pm in WJB G40 and will be followed by a social gathering for students, faculty, and friends of Art History.
FSU Art History Professional Achievement Award
Matthew McLendon (BA 2000) is the Director and CEO of the McNay Art Museum in San Antonio, TX. He began his museum career in London at the Tate while studying abroad with FSU. After receiving his Bachelor’s degrees in Art History and Music at Florida State University and his PhD at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, McLendon served for six years as the curator of modern and contemporary art at The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota. In 2017 he was appointed the J. Sanford Miller Family Director and Chief Curator of the Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia.
FSU Art History Emerging Professional Award
Daniel Noel (BA ’17) is the Development Coordinator at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, OH, working to secure funds for the museum’s operations and to support the work of the Board of Trustees. After earning his BA in Art History at FSU in 2017, Daniel went on to earn a Master of Science degree in Museum Studies with a concentration in Theory & Practice from the University of Glasgow (MSc ’18). Prior to his time at the Rock Hall, he worked at the Cleveland Museum of Art, further expanding the professional museum experience he gained as a Museum Educator at The Grove Museum and the Tallahassee Museum and as a Museum Assistant at the Gadsden Arts Center in Quincy, FL.
