Rate My Professor Kirsi Saarikangas

Kirsi Saarikangas is Professor of Art History in the Department of Cultures at the University of Helsinki. Born on March 9, 1960, in Helsinki, she earned her Master of Arts in 1987 and PhD in Art History in 1993 from the University of Helsinki. Her doctoral dissertation, Model Houses for Model Families: Gender, Ideology and Modern Dwelling – The Type-Planned Houses of the 1940s in Finland, explores gender dynamics in modern housing design. Saarikangas specializes in art history, architectural history, urban studies, environmental humanities, gender studies, modern home, urban history, and cultural history. Her research focuses on gender and space, suburbs and modern architecture, urban nature, and the relationships between residents and built and natural environments. As Principal Investigator of the project Nature in Arts, Culture, and History (2014–2018), she analyzes the interplay of natural and human-made elements in urban spaces, including post-war suburbs and waterfront areas in Helsinki, Stockholm, and New York.

Saarikangas has advanced through key academic roles since the 1990s. Appointed Professor of Art History in 2010, she served as Vice-dean of the Faculty of Arts for teaching (2010–2013), Director of the doctoral programme in History and Cultural Heritage (since 2014), Director of the national doctoral programme in women’s studies (2007–2011), Acting Professor of women’s studies (1994–1995, 2003–2009), Director of the Christina Institute (2003–2009), and Academy of Finland Senior Research Fellow (2001–2003). Notable publications include her editorship of Suomen kulttuurihistoria 1–5 (State Award for Public Information, 2006), Homes in Transformation: Dwelling, Moving, Belonging (2009), Lived, Material and Planned Welfare: Mass-Produced Suburbanity in 1960s and 1970s Metropolitan Finland (2023), and “Lähiöiden luontokulttuurit: Ihmisen ja muun luonnon välisyydestä I” (2023). Awards include the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters scholarship for her outstanding doctoral dissertation (1994) and membership in the Teachers’ Academy (2015–). She supervises doctoral programmes in Gender, Culture, and Society; History and Cultural Heritage; Interdisciplinary Environmental Sciences; and Philosophy, Arts, and Society, and participates in committees, assessments, editorial roles, and public lectures.