Andrea Becksvoort, PhD

Andrea Becksvoort was born in Sweden and moved often as a child until the family settled in Chattanooga where she completed her middle and high school education. After graduating magna cum laude from Vanderbilt University, she earned a PhD in American Studies from Yale University where she specialized in the visual and cultural history of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She is a longtime teacher deeply invested in the transformative possibilities of arts and education. Since moving back to Chattanooga, she has served on the boards of various organizations dedicated to equity, education, and the arts, including serving as the former co-chair of the Justice Committee of the Chattanooga Mayor's Council for Women and on the Advocacy Committee for the Women's Fund. She is currently the Chair of the Initiatives Committee for Arts Build, giving support and oversight to all ArtsBuild grants and other programs. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa.