William Crow, Director of Lehigh University Art Galleries (LUAG) and Professor of Practice in the Department of Art, Architecture and Design has been named a J. Paul Getty Museum Guest Scholar at the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles, CA.  Crow will be in residence at the Getty from January to March 2026 focusing on the research project Sketching in the Art Museum: A Tool for Thinking and Well-Being.  

The Getty Scholars Program supports researchers in advancing knowledge of the arts and humanities and producing cutting-edge scholarship that contributes to the understanding and preservation of cultural heritage. While in residence, scholars have the opportunity to spend significant time at one of the world’s premier art history collections while contributing to an international community committed to intellectual exploration and exchange. 

“The J. Paul Getty Museum is excited to welcome Dr. William Crow as a guest scholar” says Elizabeth Escamilla, Assistant Director for Education and Public Programs.  “Dr. Crow’s proposal to examine the historical practice of drawing in the galleries in conjunction with recent developments in the neuro-aesthetics field will expand the rigor of the research and provide a valuable contribution to the field.  Dr. Crow is an exceptional colleague and a sought-after arts leader. We are thrilled to provide him with an opportunity to focus on his research and look forward to welcoming him to Los Angeles.”

Beyond his role as director of LUAG, Crow is a visual artist and empirical researcher, with current interests that include epistemological development in the arts and the cognitive benefits of sketching. He has spoken internationally on topics related to museums, education, and digital media, and coauthored the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) publications Unbound by Place or Time: Museums and Online Learning (2009), All Together Now: Museums and Online Collaborative Learning (2010), and Teaching the Museum (2014). He was named the 2014 Eastern Region Art Museum Educator of the Year by the National Art Education Association, and has served as a panelist for the Institute of Museum and Library Services, as well as a peer reviewer for the Museum Assessment Program for AAM. He received the 2015 University Excellence in Teaching Award at Johns Hopkins University, and in 2017 he was awarded a Fulbright Global Specialist Award to conduct professional development for museum staff in South America.

Prior to his appointment at Lehigh, he was the inaugural Educator in Charge of Teaching and Learning at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. He has held academic appointments at New York University, Johns Hopkins University, and The New School for Social Research. He is an alumnus of the Getty Leadership Institute (2006) and the Columbia University School of Business Executive Leadership Program (2016). He currently serves as the Pennsylvania state representative for the Association of Academic Museums and Galleries (AAMG).