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Powell Honored by College Art Association

Richard Powell, current dean of the humanities at Duke, will be honored by the College Art Association

Humanities Dean Richard Powell has been named the College Art Association's 2016 Distinguished Scholar.

Powell, the John Spencer Bassett Professor of Art and Art History, has taught at Duke since 1989. His work focuses on African-American and American art; he will be honored by the association in February. 

In 2013, Powell received the Lawrence A. Fleischman Award for Scholarly Excellence from the Smithsonian Institution's Archives of American Art for his contributions to American art history.

Currently the dean of the humanities within the Trinity College of Arts and Sciences, Powell is the former chair of the department of Art, Art History and Visual Studies. He holds a master's and doctorate from Yale University. A noted author and art historian, he most recently curated an Archibald Motley exhibition, which originated and opened at the Nasher Museum at Duke University in 2014, and is now on view at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City.