Clare Fitzgerald will take on the role of associate director for exhibitions and gallery curator at NYU’s Institute for the Study of the Ancient World on March 12, according to a press release.

ISAW, an independent research center affiliated with NYU, conducts studies and provides graduate education on ancient civilizations — such as those of the Mediterranean, central Asia and the Pacific Ocean coast— and their social, economic and cultural connections.

“It is the exhibitions program’s goal to illuminate understudied cultures and untraditional subject matter as a means of understanding cultural interaction in the ancient world, and to provide historical context for the conventions of contemporary society,” the press release read.

Alexander Jones, ISAW’s director, said Fitzgerald will primarily be responsible for developing a series of two-year-long exhibitions for the institute’s galleries.

Fitzgerald will create these exhibitions by working with outside curators or consultants and obtaining certain artifacts to showcase themes the institute wants to prioritize. Though Fitzgerald will have a team of about four people assisting her, Dr. Jones said that the new associate director will be important in overseeing the cultivation of ISAW’s exhibits.

There is a vast amount of time and space to cover, and ISAW wants to cast light on interesting aspects of ancient times, Jones said.

According to the press release, Fitzgerald has a background in both museum education and curatorship, and she earned her doctorate in Art History from Emory University.

“Her academic background is in Egyptology, with a particular research interest in the definition of space and self-presentation in Ramesside Theban tombs,” the press release read. “She has held a number of fellowships, including at the American Research Center in Egypt and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.”

The press release also said Fitzgerald has worked as a consulting and guest curator for the Munson-Williams-Proctor Art Institute, and she was a guest curator who oversaw the Newark Museum’s reinstallation of its Ancient Mediterranean collection.

In choosing Fitzgerald, Dr. Jones said ISAW based its ideal candidate off standards set by the institute’s previous curator and who would help fit what ISAW was looking for in the future.

He said what the institute really wants to see from her — and what he’s sure Fitzgerald will bring to ISAW — is a continuation of ISAW’s 10-year legacy of high standards, as well as offer a fresh perspective, but with a different perspective.

Email Natasha Roy at [email protected].