Dr. Elizabeth E. Guffey’s scholarly work meets at the convergence of design history and disability studies. Having authored an extensive body of work, Guffey has been published in Art in America, the New York Times, and the Journal of Visual Culture. Additionally, she is the founding editor of the peer-reviewed journal Design and Culture. As a leading academic in her field, Guffey has most recently co-edited After Universal Design: The Disability Design Revolution (2023). Previously, she co-edited Making Disability Modern (2020) and authored Designing Disability: Symbols, Spaces, and Society (2017). In Designing Disability, Guffey explored how design symbols can alter the environment and make a person more or less disabled, depending on the use of the design. At the State University of New York, Purchase College, Guffey teaches art and design history and heads the MA program in modern and contemporary art, criticism, and theory. Guffey’s dedication and substantial research have created greater visibility for design and disability studies.
Exhibitions
Sèvres Extraordinaire!
Sculpture from 1740 until Today
Current Exhibition
September 10 – November 16, 2025
September 10 – November 16, 2025
Bard Graduate Center is an advanced graduate research institute in New York City dedicated to the cultural histories of the material world. Our MA and PhD degree programs, Gallery exhibitions, research initiatives, scholarly publications and public programs explore new ways of thinking about decorative arts, design history, and material culture.
Reconstructing and Restoring an Eighteenth-Century Parisian Landmark
A Françoise and Georges Selz…
November 5, 2025
Exhibiting Oceania
New Perspectives
A conversation with Healoha Johnston (Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum), Fred Myers (NYU), and Albert Refiti (Auckland University of Technology), moderated by Maia Nuku (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
November 12, 2025
Elsewhere: Archive, Museum, and Catalyst of Change
A Leon Levy Foundation Lecture…
Gabrielle A. Berlinger (University of North Carolina)
November 13, 2025
Ulm’s Development Pedagogy
A Lecture
Eric Anderson (Rhode Island School of Design)
November 19, 2025
Buttenhausen: The Material Afterlife of…
A Leon Levy Foundation Lecture…
Gabrielle A. Berlinger (University of North Carolina)
December 11, 2025