Since the school awarded its first PhD in 1933, more than 2000 degrees have been conferred and a high proportion of its alumni hold international leadership roles as professors, curators, museum directors, archaeologists, conservators, critics, and institutional administrators.

Foundational art historians such as Erwin Panofsky, Walter Friedlaender, Karl Leo Heinrich Lehmann, Julius Held, and Richard Krautheimer set the institute on its course of rigorous, creative, and pluralistic scholarship and strong worldwide connections.

The IFA's Ph.D. program is normally six years and requires 18 courses, a qualifying paper, two foreign language certifications, major and minor field examinations, and a dissertation.

[5] IFA students have access to special academic programs such as archaeological excavations, travel grants, global research locations, and IFA-sponsored conferences and symposia.

There are 26 faculty members who teach at the institute and Conservation Center, with areas of study ranging from early Egyptian to modern and contemporary American art.

Students undertake laboratory work, seminars, research projects, and gain intensive experience through fieldwork and their fourth-year Internship.

The excavations aim to build a comprehensive understanding of the ancient activities at the site, how its operations and meaning evolved over time, and its relation to the broader context of Egyptian history and culture.

[10] Since 1938, the IFA has worked in the Sanctuary of the Gods in Samothrace, Greece, uncovering the home of its famous mystery cult with a series of great marble buildings, dedicated by Philip II and his successors, and seminal in the formation of Hellenistic architecture.

In 2007, the IFA began its excavation on the Acropolis of Selinunte in western Sicily, focusing on the area of the main urban sanctuary of the ancient Greek colony.

Fieldwork to date has already provided important evidence concerning the history of Selinunte prior to the arrival of the Greek colonists, as well as significant finds of pottery and sculpture originally dedicated as votive offerings in the sanctuary area.

Later, as a member of the faculty, Goldwater was joined by Robert Rosenblum, who cultivated close relationships with many New York contemporary artists, especially among the Pop generation, and brought this firsthand knowledge to his teaching over more than three decades.

Linda Nochlin is the critic and scholar most identified with the emergence of strong feminist art practices from the early 1970s onwards.