Catherine Gabb

BA, 2011 – Art History

How has being an Art, Art History & Visual Studies graduate from Duke helped shape your professional success?

After graduating from Duke, I earned an MA in Art History at the University of Texas at Austin, where I specialized in Early Modern art and art markets of the Netherlands. Duke definitely prepared me for work at the graduate level and beyond. I later returned to the UT Austin to earn an MS in Historic Preservation from the School of Architecture.

What advice would you give students in Art, Art History & Visual Studies?

I ultimately switched gears after earning both undergraduate and graduate degrees in Art History. I now work in historic preservation. My best advice is that education is never detrimental and skills learned in the humanities (i.e. research, observation skills, critical thinking, writing) can always be applied to future careers. Don't feel like you are pigeon-holed because you found a passion early on and wanted to pursue it and later decided to do something else.