Caitlín Doherty

Caitlín Doherty is Associate Vice President of Arts UNF and the Executive Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville, a cultural institute of UNF. As Associate Vice President, Doherty is responsible for implementing Arts UNF’s vision in alignment with the University’s Strategic Plan Areas of Focus, overall mission, and goals. In the early phases, this includes cultivating understanding of the initiative among faculty, staff, and community stakeholders, with a focus on student success and support. She will integrate spaces and collections into Arts UNF while prioritizing student and faculty needs, and create opportunities for growth through programs, events, partnerships, and collaborations, both on and off campus.  

Doherty joined UNF in 2017 as the Executive Director of MOCA Jacksonville, where she leads the museum team in its mission to promote the discovery, knowledge, and advancement of the art, artists, and ideas of our time. While in this role, Doherty was chosen to serve on the Meridian International Center's Cultural Diplomacy Leadership Council, where she is among 55 Council members representing major arts and cultural institutions, and prominent cultural figures. This appointment to the Council is not only a significant role for Doherty but also recognizes the work of MOCA Jacksonville as significant within the cultural sector. 

Doherty has engaged with artists, students, and communities around the world throughout a career that spans Scotland, Ireland, Qatar, and the United States. Prior to her tenure at MOCA, Doherty served as chief curator and deputy director of curatorial affairs at the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University from 2015-2017. She served as exhibitions and speaker curator at Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar, a branch campus of the VCU School of Arts in Richmond, VA from 2012 to 2015. Prior to that, she taught art history, design history, and museum and gallery studies at Ireland's Waterford Institute of Technology and has regularly guest lectured at other institutions internationally. During her tenure in Ireland, she also worked as the inaugural director of Lismore Castle Arts, one of Ireland's leading contemporary art galleries; directed the interdisciplinary arts and cultural initiative Artswave, a flagship European Union arts and culture project; and acted as visual arts coordinator for Garter Lane Arts Centre.  

She holds master's degrees in art history from the University of Edinburgh and in museum and gallery studies from the University of St. Andrews, both in Scotland.