Museum Studies

College of Humanities
Dean: Paul Sherwin

Museum Studies Program
HUM 515
415-405-0599
Director: Linda Ellis

Graduate Coordinator: Linda Ellis

Faculty

Professor—Ellis

Associate Professors—Chung, Luby

Program

M.A. in Museum Studies

Program Scope

The museum studies program is designed to provide graduate professional training in major areas of museum work—museum administration, fundraising, collections management, exhibition design, museum educational programming, and curation. The museum studies degree also assists those students who plan to continue graduate studies in conservation or in doctoral programs.

The museum studies program operates a series of specialized facilities where students may obtain training: Museum of Ancient Civilizations (public exhibit gallery for visiting archaeological exhibitions and collections storage for the permanent Sutro Egyptian Collection), exhibition preparation workshop, conservation laboratory, archaeometry center, x-ray laboratory, documentation center, and darkroom.

Career Outlook

The museum studies program prepares students for employment in all types of museums, cultural arts centers, arts commissions, historical sites and houses, science centers, environmental education centers, libraries with exhibition programs, exhibit design firms, auction houses, planetaria, aquaria, zoos, and botanical gardens.

MASTER OF ARTS IN MUSEUM STUDIES

Graduate Advisers—Chung, Ellis, Luby

Admission to the Program

Students are admitted in this program for fall terms only. To be admitted to classified status, a student must meet all general university requirements. No more than 6 units of work taken in post-baccalaureate status is transferable to M.A. degree credit in the museum studies program.

Applicants must:

Have an undergraduate degree in one of the following or related fields: anthropology, archaeology, art history, classics, design, education, history, biological or physical sciences, or public/art administration.
Have a minimum grade point average of 3.0 in the last 60 semester units of upper-division courses completed.
Have at least six months part-time or volunteer experience in a museum or related setting.
Submit to the admissions committee two letters of recommendation and a written statement of background, intentions, and goals. Each applicant is encouraged to specify as closely as possible the emphasis he or she wishes to pursue.
Applicants must take the GRE.

Written English Proficiency Requirement

Level One: satisfactory performance in final research paper for MS 700, MS 800, or MS 860. Level Two: successful completion of master's thesis or creative work project.

Advancement to Candidacy

Besides meeting all general requirements for advancement to candidacy, applicants must, in addition, have completed with a grade of B or better each of the following courses: MS 700, MS 860, MS 880.

Courses are 3 units unless otherwise indicated. On-line course descriptions are available.

Core Requirements		Units
MS 700	History and Organization of Museums [required during first semester of program]	3
MS 860	Museum Fundraising	3
MS 880	Museum Internship	3
Total for core		9
Area Requirements One course selected from each of the following 3 groups:		9-10
Collections Care and Conservation
MS 740	Museum Conservation and Restoration
MS 760	Conservation of Natural History Collections
MS 794	Museum Collections Management and Registration
Museum Management
MS 800	Museum Management, Law, and Ethics
MS 830	Museum Governance
PA 745	Administration of Nonprofit Organizations
Exhibition Design
ART 719	Exhibit Design
MS 730	Museum Exhibit Design and Curation
Total area requirements		9-10
Area Emphasis Select four electives relevant to the following areas. No more than 6 units of non-museum studies courses may count towards electives in the area emphasis. Courses must be chosen in consultation with a museum studies faculty adviser.		12
Curation
Exhibition Design
Conservation and Restoration
Museum Management and Fundraising
Museum Education and Public Programming
Registration/Collections Management
Total for emphasis		12
Culminating Experience Requirement
MS 894 or MS 898	Creative Work Project Master's Thesis	3
Minimum total		33

If students do not complete their culminating experience in either MS 894 or MS 898, they must thereafter continue to be enrolled in one course during one semester each academic year until graduation.