School of Art + Art History alumna Kelli Wood (BA Art History and Political Science ‘08) was recognized with the 2017 Outstanding Young Alumni (OYA) Award from the University of Florida Alumni Association.
Established in 2006, the OYA Award recognizes alumni whose achievements positively reflect The Gator Nation. Criteria for the award include being within ten years of graduation, making a significant impact on their industry, and having professional accomplishments at the state, national or international level.
Wood graduated Summa Cum Laude in 2008 with a degree in art history and political science. Since graduating from UF, Wood completed her PhD in art history from the University of Chicago. As an art historian, Wood has conducted research in Italy and has numerous published works, including “Performing Pictures: Parlor Games and Visual Engagement in Ascanio de’ Mori’s Giuoco piacevole” in Playthings in Early Modernity and “Balls on Walls, Feet on Streets: Subversive Play in Grand Ducal Florence,” in the Renaissance Studies journal.
Wood is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of the History of Art at the University of Michigan and a Postdoctoral Scholar in the Michigan Society of Fellows. She has conducted research on the intersection of art and games on a Fulbright at the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florence, Italy and as a Samuel Kress Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts at the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
During her time at UF, she served as the director of the Museum Nights program, president of the Fine Arts College Council, intern at the Harn Museum of Art, and president of the Art History Association.
