Dr. Ami Kantawala serves as an adjunct associate professor in the Art and Art Education Program at Teachers College, Columbia University, in New York, and also teaches in Boston University’s online Master of Art Education program. She teaches a variety of courses at both universities ranging from research methods, master’s seminars, history of art education, and leadership in art education, along with supervision of Masters’ research theses. She also served as a full-time Lecturer and Program Manager in the Arts Administration Program at Teachers College from 2011-13. She completed her BFA in Painting and Metalcraft at Sir J. J. School of Applied Art in Bombay, India, and went on to complete her Ed.M. and Ed.D. in Art Education at Teachers College. She completed an extensive training program in Leadership from HERS Wellesley Institute in 2012-13. She was awarded the Eastern Region Higher Art Educator of the Year from the National Art Education Association. Dr. Kantawala was elected to be the incoming senior editor (beginning March 2020) for one of the field’s bonafide peer-reviewed journal Art Education (published by NAEA and ranked fourth in the world in art education).
At Teachers College, Dr. Kantawala has pioneered coursework on the History of Art Education through a unique visual studies lens. She has designed two online courses on “Insightful and Creative Leadership within Arts Education” and “Master’s Research Project” for Boston University’s online master’s program. These courses acquaint and prepare in-service art teachers with the basic research skills and organizational strategies of leadership and management that are needed to serve within school systems and arts educational organizations, specifically museums and community art centers. The research course introduces students to the conventions and practice of qualitative research in the context of art education and as a form of inquiry that is grounded in the theories, practices, and contexts used by art practitioners working in schools, museums, community agencies, etc. which aids in strengthening and informing the students’ practice.
Her research intersects historical methods, cultural studies, postcolonial theory, higher education leadership, qualitative research, and mentoring. She has published articles in research journals such as Visual Arts Research, Studies in Art Education, and the International Journal of Art and Design Education. Dr. Kantawala also serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Visual Inquiry: Learning and Teaching Art, Studies in Art Education, Journal of Social Theory in Art Education (both journals published by the National Art Education Association (NAEA), and Journal of Cultural Research in Art Education. She has served as the co-chair of the brain trust on historical research methods in Art Education for the Higher Education Division Research Steering Committee, and recently served as the Eastern Region Director of the Higher Education Division for NAEA. She has also presented at several NAEA, AERA (American Education Research Association), HES (History of Education Society) and CAA (College Art Association) conferences on historical research, mentoring, new faculty development, international histories, research methods, undocumented histories of art education and art education in India.
