Mariët Westermann

​Mariët Westermann became vice chancellor and chief executive of New York University Abu Dhabi, where she oversees all academic, administrative, financial, and operational affairs of the university, in August 2019. She joined the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in 2010 and served as the executive vice president for programs and research from 2016 to July 2019. In that role, she launched initiatives that study and promote the value of the humanities and the liberal arts, encourage graduate education reform, renew preservation of cultural heritage around the world, and support scholars and artists at risk. Earlier, Westermann was the first provost of NYU Abu Dhabi, former director of NYU’s Institute of Fine Arts, and professor of art history. Before joining NYU in 2002, she was associate director of research at the Clark Art Institute. From 1995 to 2001, she was an assistant and associate professor of art history at Rutgers University. Her publications include
Rembrandt—Art and Ideas (2000);
The Amusements of Jan Steen: Comic Painting in the 17th Century (1997); and
A Worldly Art: The Dutch Republic 1585–1718 (1996). Westermann has worked extensively with museums, including serving as curator of
Art and Home: Dutch Interiors in the Age of Rembrandt (Denver Art Museum and Newark Museum, 2001). She has been the recipient of fellowships, honors, and grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, American Philosophical Society, Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, Clark Art Institute, College Art Association, and Metropolitan Museum of Art. Westermann earned her undergraduate degree from Williams College, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. She earned an MA and PhD from NYU’s Institute of Fine Arts.