Investigates the museum as an institution in society; history of museums and changing roles and methods in society; administrative structure; museum profession; methodology of museum collections, exhibitions, and education. Designed for students interested in museums or museum careers.
Provides background in history and literature of museums, their objectives and methods, laboratory exercises in curatorship, exhibition theory, and administration.
Surveys and discusses the educational role of museums and informal learning centers. Issues include current trends, learning theories and styles, learning from objects, education programs, diverse audiences, museum/school partnerships, and the role of education in exhibit development.
Covers elements of exhibition development and design, up to production and evaluation of exhibit prototypes. The team approach is emphasized. Department enforced requisite: restricted to graduate students.
Covers theory of organizations and how it applies to museums, application of small business management and nonprofit organizations to museums, marketing and development, and grant writing and funding strategies. Department enforced requisite: restricted to graduate students.
Deals specifically with curation and data management.Topics include acquisition practices and problems; organization, management, use and preventive conservation of collections; and computer data management of collections.
Intended for students with little to no art background. Focus is on the accurate rendering of scientific subjects for publication and for public display. Course begins with basic drawing skills and sharpening of visual perception. Students progress to be able to produce realistic renderings of subjects. Students are exposed to a variety of black and white and color techniques and the standards for presenting illustrations for a variety of audiences. Course concludes with computer illustration tools and techniques.
Provides a hands-on environment for exploring issues in museum collections management. Through lecture, resource procurement, in-class activities and out-of-class projects, students will gain practical and professional experience in areas of policy, procedure, best practices, museum storage planning and legal issues. Recommended prereq., MUSM 5051.
Offers a weekly seminar for museum and field study students that addresses one new topic each semester relevant to museum operations such as archival administration, museums, multiculturalism, repatriation, and others. Department enforced prereq., MUSM 5011. Requisites: Restricted to graduate students only.
Investigates key problems facing museum institutions and studies the staging and representation of historical knowledge, the ethics of collecting and display, the changing nature and uses of historical evidence, and relations between curatorial practice, collecting, and field work. Critically examines different approaches to museums and museology in various disciplines, both past and present. Department enforced prereq., MUSM 5011. Same as ARTH 6150, HIST 6150, and ANTH 6150.
Provides experience in museums of different sizes, audiences, and subjects, including history, natural history, art, and children's museums. Each student is supervised individually by a faculty member as well as the appropriate person in the cooperating museum.
A thesis, which may be of a research, expository, critical or creative type, is required of every master's degree candidate under the thesis option. Department enforced prereqs., MUSM 5011 and MUSM 5051 and one of the following: MUSM 5030, 5031 or 5041.
A project or paper in the student's discipline and related to some aspect of museum studies is required of every master's degree candidate under the non-thesis-option plan. Department enforced prereqs., MUSM 5011 and MUSM 5051. Students in collections/field track also need MUSM 5030, 5031, or 5041.
