Museum Studies

College of Humanities
Dean: Paul Sherwin

Museum Studies Program
HUM 515
415-405-0599
Fax: 415-338-1775
Email: museumst@sfsu.edu
Web: www.sfsu.edu/~museumst
Director: Linda Ellis

Graduate Coordinator: Linda Ellis

Faculty

Professor—Ellis

Associate Professor—Luby

Lecturers—DeMouthe, Fogarty, Fox

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: The University 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—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 are transferable to M.A. degree credit in the museum studies program.

To be eligible for consideration, applicants must:

Have an undergraduate degree from an accredited college or university in one of the following or related fields: anthropology, archaeology, art history, classics, design, education, history, biological or physical sciences, or public/art administration. Additional museum experience beyond the minimum required is expected when a student has a degree in a field not listed.
Have at least a minimum grade point average of 3.20 in the last 60 semester units of upper-division courses completed.
Be able to demonstrate understanding of the work and profession of museum studies, gained through paid or volunteer experience (minimum of six months) in a museum or related setting. Experience can be completed prior to or concurrent with application to the program.
Submit to the Museum Studies program two letters of recommendation from faculty or supervisors knowledgeable of the applicant’s academic or professional ability. At least one of these letters should be from a museum supervisor.
Submit to the Museum Studies program a current resumé and written statement of purpose, outlining background, intentions, and goals as specified in the program’s admissions procedures. Each applicant is encouraged to specify as closely as possible the emphasis s/he wishes to pursue.
Send one set of transcripts of all prior academic work directly to the Museum Studies program. Another set is required by the university graduate admissions office.
Submit GRE scores with a minimum of 4.5 or better on the analytical writing section, and a 550 or better on the verbal section. Past scores will be accepted if taken within five years of the semester the applicant wishes to attend.
Submit a paper TOEFL score of at least 550 or a computer-based score of 213 to the graduate admissions office, if an international applicant is from a non-English speaking countries.

For admission, applications are due February 1. Domestic applicants are contacted by the Museum Studies program for interviews on a rolling basis on limited dates beginning November through February, only if the following are on file: the application for post-baccalaureate study to the university graduate admissions office, official transcripts, and resumé. Local applicants are also required to attend one of the program’s regularly scheduled open house dates (November or February) as part of the admissions process.

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]
MS 860	Museum Fundraising
MS 880	Museum Internship
Total for core		9
Area Requirements One course selected from each of the following three groups:
Collections Care and Conservation
MS 740	Museum Conservation and Restoration
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
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.
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.