Steven Nelson was the dean of the National Gallery’s Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts (the Center) from 2020 to 2025, during which time he was responsible for the Center’s fellowships, meetings, research, and publications. Nelson has published widely on the arts, architecture, and urbanism of Africa and its diasporas and on queer studies. Nelson is professor emeritus at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he also served as director of the African Studies Center. He has held visiting appointments at the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá and the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris. Nelson is also a member of the Kress Foundation’s Board of Trustees and has been honored by the Association of Art Historians (Great Britain) and the Society of Architectural Historians. Before assuming the role of dean, he was the Center’s Andrew W. Mellon Professor. 

Nelson holds a PhD and AM in art history from Harvard University a BA in studio art from Yale University.