About me
Debra Hess Norris, Chair, Department of Art Conservation and Professor of Photograph Conservation at the University of Delaware. She has authored more than 45 articles/ book chapters on the care of photographic materials and taught/secured support for 165+ preservation workshops and initiatives worldwide. With Jennifer Jae Gutierrez, she co-edited – Issues in the Conservation of Photographs – published by the GCI (2010). Today with Nora Kennedy and Bertrand Lavédrine, she is co-editing a book on the Conservation of Photograph and Image Collections featuring contributions from ninety-six authors worldwide.
Norris is delighted and honored to serve on the Board and to work in collaboration with the Alliance for HBCU Museums and Galleries. Additional board service includes work for Foundation for the Advancement in Conservation, Conservation Center for Art and Historic Art Materials, American Friends of the National Gallery of Denmark, the University of Delaware, and advisory councils, including Our World Heritage and the External Advisory Board for NYU Abu Dhabi. Norris was the chair of Heritage Preservation (2003- 2008) and president of the AIC (1993-97) and has led many preservation initiatives nationally and worldwide. She has worked with APOYOnline to develop workshops in Colombia, Cuba, and Brazil and recently, as a co-chair for the Financial Sustainability Working Group for FAIC's Held in Trust.
Norris co-led the Middle East Photograph Preservation Initiative (MEPPI) with the Arab Image Foundation, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Getty Conservation Institute. Norris helped to develop the Iraqi Institute for the Conservation of Antiquities and Heritage (IICAH) in Erbil, Iraq, now led by the Smithsonian Institution.
In 2002, Norris was inducted into the University of Delaware's Alumni Wall of Fame. She has received the AIC Rutherford John Gettens Merit Award for outstanding service (1998), the Sheldon and Caroline Keck Award for excellence in the education of conservation professionals (2004), the AIC University Products Award for distinguished achievement in the conservation of cultural property (2008), and the College Art Association/ AIC Award for Distinction in Scholarship and Conservation (2016). In May 2018, Norris was named a Francis Alison Scholar, UD’s top faculty honor. And in May 2024 she was awarded the Forbes Medal by the AIC, an honor she treasures.
She is grateful for these many meaningful partnerships and service opportunities and our collective work to enhance equity and inclusion within the profession of art conservation, to strengthen understanding through cultural heritage preservation, and to encourage and empower future leaders in and advocates for the art and culture sector worldwide.
Outside of conservation, Norris has served UD as an interim associate dean for the arts, the humanities, social sciences, and graduate education and as vice provost for graduate and professional education. She currently serves as the interim dean for the College of Arts and Sciences.
