Melissa Forstrom

Melissa Forstrom is an Associate Professor of Global Studies and Arts Management at Purchase College’s School of Liberal Studies. Her research interrogates the intersections of museums, cultural representation, heritage, and society, with a focus on Islamic art exhibitions, experiential learning pedagogies, and spatial theories in art museum contexts. She has lectured globally at institutions such as Johns Hopkins University, the University of Oslo, and the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.

Dr. Forstrom holds a BS from Northeastern University and an MA/PhD from the University of Westminster (UK). Her work explores museum innovation, migration’s impact on Nordic museum practices, and the architectural properties of glass in art museums. She co-edited the 2021 anthology Museum Innovation: Building More Equitable, Relevant and Impactful Museums and is authoring a forthcoming monograph on Islamic art interpretation in Europe and the US.

• Research Foci: Islamic art exhibitions, museum visitor studies, decolonization in arts education, and airport art institutions.
• Professional Roles: Curator, evaluator for the National Endowment for the Humanities, and facilitator of advisory committees for institutions like the Walters Museum of Art.

Her teaching includes courses on decolonization, public art, museum education, and cross-cultural climate solutions. Awards include the Emily and Eugene Grant Faculty Award (2022) and multiple Faculty Travel Grants.