• Cheryl Finley
• Inaugural Director; University Professor
• Atlanta University Center Art History + Curatorial Studies Collective; Cornell

Cheryl Finley, Ph.D., is the Inaugural Director of the Atlanta University Center Art History + Curatorial Studies Collective, Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Department of Art & Visual Culture at Spelman College and Associate Professor of Art History at Cornell University. Committed to engaging strategic partners to transform the arts and culture industry, she leads an innovative undergraduate program at the world’s largest historically Black college and university consortium in preparing the next generation of African American museum and visual arts leaders.

A curator and contemporary art critic, Dr. Finley is also an award-winning author noted for Committed to Memory: The Art of the Slave Ship Icon (Princeton University Press, 2018). Her current book project, Black Venice, examines the long history of Black artistic and curatorial activism at the Venice Biennale and its enduring impact on global arts ecosystems.