Emily Jacobs. Courtesy of Bowdoin College

The Bowdoin College Museum of Art has appointed Emily Jacobs as the museum’s new post-baccalaureate curatorial assistant and manager of student programs. Jacobs, who graduated from Bowdoin in May 2024, has demonstrated a commitment to working with the museum as part of both her academic work and student leadership activities during her time at Bowdoin.

Jacobs was chosen from a competitive field of applicants — all Bowdoin alums from the classes of 2022, 2023 and 2024 — and succeeds Sabrina Lin, Bowdoin Class of 2021, who was the first person to hold this position. Jacobs begins her new role at the museum in July.

“We are delighted to welcome Emily back to the Bowdoin College Museum of Art in this essential role,” said Frank Goodyear, co-director of the BCMA. “Emily’s passion for building bridges between the museum, faculty, students and the wider community was evident during her time as a student and intern here. Her experience developing and supporting innovative programs to engage students will be invaluable as we continue our work supporting the museum’s academic mission.”

As a Bowdoin College undergraduate, Jacobs majored in art history and minored in anthropology. Her coursework included classes such as critical museum studies, decolonizing archaeology and seminars that involved close study of artworks at the museum. Last summer, she served as the museum’s summer curatorial intern, during which time she conducted research for the exhibition “The Book of Two Hemispheres: ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ in the United States and Europe,” now on view at the BCMA through July 21.

Beginning in September 2023, she served as the inaugural curatorial intern of campus engagement, a new position created to strengthen the connection between faculty, students and the museum. Jacobs has also been active in leading the Bowdoin Art Society and Bowdoin Student Museum Collective. In her work with these two organizations, she helped to establish and launch the first Student Acquisitions Program, which provides members with an opportunity to identify an artwork for acquisition by the BCMA.

“I am excited to step into this role at the museum, which has been such a vital part of my Bowdoin education and experience,” Jacobs said. “As a student, I considered myself fortunate that our art museum is so centrally connected to our campus. The BCMA’s exhibitions and programs are designed to engage students and the public alike, meaning they are always educational while embracing larger themes and often challenging questions. The opportunity to serve as curatorial assistant and manager of student programs is thrilling, and I look forward to building on my own experiences as a student — and what I learned working with my predecessor, Sabrina Lin, during her time in this role — to develop new opportunities for student engagement with our collections and exhibitions, and to support faculty in teaching with art across disciplines.”

The Bowdoin College Museum of Art is home to one of the earliest collegiate art collections in the nation. It came into being through the 1811 bequest of James Bowdoin III of 70 European paintings and a portfolio of 141 old master drawings. The collection has been expanded through the generosity of the Bowdoin family, alumni and friends, and now numbers more than 30,000 objects, including paintings, sculpture, works on paper, decorative arts and artifacts from prehistory to the present from civilizations around the world.