Robert D. Jacobsen

Outstanding Achievement Award Recipient

College of Liberal Arts, June 23, 2008

Robert D. Jacobsen, nationally renowned curator of Asian art at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, earned a B.A. (1968) in art history, a M.A. (1971) in art history, and a Ph.D. (1984) in Asian art history, with a minor in Chinese language and literature, from the University of Minnesota. Described as an accomplished scholar and distinguished curator, he has organized more than forty-one special exhibitions, added almost 7,000 Asian art objects to the permanent collection and written thirty-two articles and books on Asian art. He is committed to outreach and teaching. He has given more than 400 public lectures and has worked with Twin Cities Public Television (TPT) on the production of Ming in Minneapolis. He also contributed significantly to the six-part series Made in China, which premiered in June 2002. In addition, he has served as an adjunct professor in the Department of Art History at the University of Minnesota. He is the recipient of the Bursar's Scholarship from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand and the Metropolitan Foundation Fellowship for Research Abroad, Japan. In 1989, he received the Arts and Culture Award from the Midwest China Center. He has served on numerous boards and committees such as the China Institute at the University of Minnesota, the Governor's Committee on China, and the Middle East Outreach Consortium.

Biographies are as-of time of award presentation.