Angela M. Person, PhD

Dr. Angela M. Person serves as Executive Director of Museums & Community Engagement in the University of Arizona’s Office of Research & Partnerships (ORP), with a faculty appointment in the College of Architecture, Planning, and Landscape Architecture. In this role, she works with the ORP museums and serves as a key partner in shaping a more connected, visible, and impactful ecosystem for museums and public-facing spaces across the university.

Person is a cultural geographer and architectural scholar whose work focuses on the intersections of design, community identities, cultural heritage, and sustainability. She has worked extensively with museums and cultural institutions, with experience in public engagement, exhibition curation, and interdisciplinary partnerships that connect academic research with community audiences. Her work supports the development of a campus-wide engagement strategy for the university’s museums, visitor experiences, and cultural assets.

Before joining the University of Arizona, Person served as Associate Dean for Research and External Engagement at the University of Oklahoma’s Gibbs College of Architecture. She is the author or co-editor of several books, including The Care and Keeping of Cultural Facilities and The Routledge International Handbook of Heritage and Affect. Her recent exhibitions include Capital Brutalism at the National Building Museum and Outré West at Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center. Her work has been supported by organizations including the National Endowment for the Arts, the Graham Foundation, and the Smithsonian Institution, and has been featured by NPR, The Washington Post, Bloomberg CityLab, and others.