The Ackland Art Museum at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill appointed CODART Member Dana Cowen as the inaugural Sheldon Peck Curator for European and American Art before 1950. In this newly endowed position, Cowen will be responsible for care, cataloguing, display, expansion, and refinement of the Ackland’s distinguished collection of European and American art before 1950, organizing and overseeing exhibitions,  conducting research, publication, curricular engagement and public outreach, within the context of a global public research university.

The Ackland’s collection in this area encompasses over 10,000 works of art, with special strengths in prints, photographs, and drawings. It has recently been dramatically enhanced by the gift of 134 outstanding Dutch and Flemish master drawings of the 17th and 18th century from the collection of Drs. Sheldon and Leena Peck, whose generosity also endowed the new curatorial position, along with acquisition and stewardship endowments. Cowen will also serve as Curator of the Peck Collection.

Cowen has her MA and PhD from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland Ohio. Since 2015, she has served as associate curator of European art at the Josyln Art Museum, Omaha. Between 2004 and 2014, she held several curatorial and other positions at the Cleveland Museum of Art. She begun work at the Ackland on 4 September 2018.