Dr. Marisa Lerer specializes in Latin American and Latinx art, public art, and memorials. Her interests in art in the public sphere are reflected in both the content of her courses and in publications, which have focused on art under dictatorship in Latin America, memorials dedicated to victims of state-sponsored terrorism in Argentina and Chile, contested historic monuments in Buenos Aires, and Latinx public sculptures in the U.S. southwest.

She was the George Gurney Senior Fellow at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and was awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities Grant for her current book project on Latinx public memorials. As the Marianna and Juan A. Sabater Adjunct Curator of Latinx Art at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, she works on exhibiting and collecting Latinx artists and expanding narratives within U.S. art history.

She has previously held positions as associate professor and chair in the Art History and Digital Media Art Department at Manhattan University, Assistant Professor in the School of Art & Art History at the University of Denver, and as a part-time faculty member at Parsons, The New School for Design. She serves on the editorial boards of Public Art Dialogue and the U.S. Latinx Art Forum.