Author
Fostering Empathy Through Museums
Elif M. Gokcigdem, Ph.D., is the editor of Fostering Empathy Through Museums (Rowman & Littlefield 2016). She is the founder of Empathy-Building Through Museums Initiative, and Partners in Empathy (P.I.E.), both serving to establish empathy as a cross-industries shared value, and museums as uniquely equipped empathy-building platforms. Gokcigdem's Fostering Empathy Through Museums has been recognized as a reference book by the AAM's TrendsWatch 2017. She is a contributor to the AAM’s Museums in a Global Context: National Identity, International Understanding. Dr. Gokcigdem received her Ph.D. in Art History from the Istanbul Technical University, and her graduate certification in Museum Studies from the George Washington University. She worked at the Smithsonian Institution’s Freer and Sackler Galleries as a curatorial research assistant in the Islamic Arts Department, and served in advisory roles in the museum community as a member of the AAM National Program Advisory Committee, a member of the George Washington University Museum and Textile Museum’s Advisory Council. As part of her professional capacity, she served as a senior advisor in the formation of Ithra, the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture, an initiative of Aramco, during its formative years in the areas of organizational mission, vision, and values, conceptual design, as well as content development, exhibition design, and traveling exhibitions. Dr. Gokcigdem has published her work in history of Islamic art and museum studies, and presented in several international conferences including the European Science Foundation (ESF) Conference, Science and Nonduality Conference (SAND), the Association of Science and Technology Centers (ASTC) Annual Conference, World Summit on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (WSIE), and the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) Annual Meeting. She is a Fellow at the World Innovation Organization, and an Advisor to the Minneapolis Institute of Art’s Center for Empathy and Visual Arts (CEVA).
Monday, May 7
8:45 AM – 10:00 AM