02/02/2023
PLEASE NOTE: We've changed the date & location of this event to accommodate Erika's updated travel plans. She has a fellowship that's sending her to Egypt a littler earlier than she previously anticipated!
Erika N. Witt, a 2012 Tusculum University graduate in Museum Studies with a concentration in History, will be this year’s keynote speaker at the 2023 College of Civic & Liberal Arts Honors Ceremony, scheduled for 4 PM on Thursday, April 27 in the Chalmers Conference Center. At the ceremony, Witt will also display “Sampling SUNOMA,” a traveling exhibition featuring African artifacts.
Witt is Coordinator of Public Services for the Leonard S. Washington Memorial Library and Curator for the Southern University at New Orleans Museum of Art, where she also teaches Principles of Museology. Her primary focus is on curatorship, specializing in the arts of Africa and the African diaspora and ancient Egyptian visual expression.
“Erika is an impressive alum and an exceptional person,” said Wayne Thomas, dean of the College of Civic & Liberal Arts. “We’re honored to be able to host her for our annual awards ceremony and to feature some of the important work she’s been doing since her Tusculum days.”
Additionally, the Black Student Union and Tusculum University Museums will host a reception for Witt the evening of April 27. The ceremony and reception are free and open to the public.
After Tusculum, Witt went on to earn a Master’s of Art in Museum Studies from Southern University at New Orleans. She is currently a doctoral candidate at Louisiana State University College of Art + Design Doctor of Design in Cultural Preservation program with a minor concentration in archival studies.
Witt’s research focuses on the appreciation of traditional African art in cultural institutions throughout New Orleans and historically black colleges and universities around the nation. She aims to make museums more meaningful, impactful, and inclusive to underserved communities and to educate communities on traditional African art history. Witt is a 2014 fellow of the East-West Art of Dialogue Initiative, an initiative by the Shafik Gabr Foundation to enhance critical understanding and cooperation amongst young emerging leaders in the Arab World and the West through global exchanges.
Witt has developed numerous art and history exhibitions and programs and cared for various collections in Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Virginia. Her recent works include collections management at the Harrison Museum of African American History, New Orleans Public Library, McKenna Museum of African American Art, National World War II Museum, Southern University at New Orleans, and Ashe Cultural Arts Center. Her recent exhibitions include African Art : Highlighting Over 50 Years of African Art at Southern University at New Orleans, Adorned: the Ancient Art of Tattooing, and Eritrea: Art and Culture.
