Marilu Knode

Marilu Knode has been named the Aronson Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. She is currently assistant director and head of research at Future Arts Research at Arizona State University in Phoenix.

Knode, who begins work Sept. 14, has a joint appointment with Laumeier Sculpture Park in Sunset Hills, Mo., serving as the executive director. She replaces Glen Gentele who left the post to become director of the Oklahoma City Museum of Art.

“We are delighted that Marilu Knode will be joining us,” said John Hylton, dean of UMSL’s College of Fine Arts and Communication. “Marilu possesses an impressive background of research, curatorial and administrative experience that will greatly benefit both institutions.”

For the last two decades Knode has served in curatorial positions at the Institute of Visual Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Newport Harbor Art Museum and Huntington Beach Art Center, both in California.

Knode earned a bachelor’s degree in art history from the University of Kansas in Lawrence and a master’s degree in museum studies from City College of New York.

The Aronson Professor of Contemporary Art at UMSL is one of more than 30 professorships within the Des Lee Collaborative Vision. Housed at UMSL, the DLCV links professors, researchers and their programs to the region’s educational, cultural and social service organizations to improve education and create opportunity for under served people as well as improve the quality of life in the region.

With more than 15,500 students, UMSL is the largest university in the St. Louis region and the third largest in the state. Founded in 1963, UMSL has nearly 55,000 alumni living and working in St. Louis giving rise to the unofficial tag line: “We educate St. Louis.”