by Josh Cole, Manager of Marketing and Communications, Hellenic College Holy Cross
New Director of Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture Appointed
Brandie Ratliff lecturing to students on MJC sponsored trip to Washington, D.C.
Brookline, MA, April 2, 2013 – Hellenic College Holy Cross (HCHC) announced today that Brandie Ratliff has been named the new Director of the Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture. Ratliff is a well respected Byzantine art historian with extensive project management and curatorial experience at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
According to Hellenic College Dean Demetrios Katos, “This appointment signals HCHC’s commitment to becoming an important center for the dissemination of Byzantine art and culture in both the academy and Church.”
Ratliff will raise public awareness of Byzantine art and culture and promote the expansion of Byzantine studies within universities and cultural institutions. “I am excited and humbled to be given this opportunity to join the Jaharis Center as it enters into a new phase of outreach to academia and the public-at-large,” said Ratliff, “My vision is to turn the Jaharis Center into a nexus for intellectual and cultural exchange centered on Byzantium’s rich heritage.”
Ratliff has worked at The Metropolitan Museum of Art since 2001. For the past 7 years, she was a research associate for the Byzantine collection of the Department of Medieval Art. She was instrumental in developing the intellectual vision and content of the exhibition Byzantium and Islam: Age of Transition and in selecting its 260-plus objects. She was also co-editor of the exhibit’s nearly four hundred page catalogue and author of many of its entries.
She earned an M.Phil in Byzantine art from Columbia University where she studied with Thomas Dale and Holger Klein.
Ratliff will begin as director on June 18, 2013. “I look forward to becoming part of the HCHC community and learning a great deal over the coming years as we work together to build a program that promotes the appreciation and study of Byzantine art and culture.” She will be moving to the Boston area later this spring with her husband and young daughter.