De Montebello is the first professor to teach the history and culture of museums at New York University's Institute of Fine Arts. In addition to being a full-time professor at the IFA, where he discusses topics such as the history of collecting and the progression and modernization of museums, de Montebello also advises NYU on its planned overseas campus and curriculum in Abu Dhabi, scheduled to begin enrolling students in 2010. He began teaching at NYU in January 2009 as well as consulting and lecturing at several museums on the modernization of their collections. In 2012, de Montebello served as the Humanitas Visiting Professor in the History of Art at the University of Cambridge.