Ronald J. Onorato is a Professor of Art History and Chair in the University of Rhode Island Art and Art History Department. His scholarship focusses on American architecture, public sculpture and funerary art with a special interest in the architectural heritage of Newport, Rhode Island from the colonial period to the present. He is chair of the National Register Review Board for Rhode Island and an honorary member of the American Institute of Architecture, Rhode Island Chapter.[1] He has served as Co-Chair of the URI Center for the Humanities, on the Board of Directors, Newport Historical Society, as President of the Board, Pettaquamscutt Historical Society and is a trustee of the Newport Art Museum.
Onorato received his BA in Art History from Rutgers University, and his MA and PhD at Brown University. He has worked as senior curator at the La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art in California and the New York Cultural Center in Manhattan.