KU's Museum Studies Graduate Program
Museum studies is a multidisciplinary field that combines intellectual challenges with opportunities to share scholarly research with the public. It attracts students from all backgrounds who have interests spanning the humanities, natural sciences, arts, and social sciences.
Today, the people who work in museums are using their expertise and imagination to establish new pathways for understanding the past, present, and future. They see museums as places where the most important topics facing society can be openly presented, discussed, and addressed. There is room in the profession for people with a wide range of skills. In addition to the disciplines you might expect, such as history, art history, or anthropology, museums need researchers, programmers, marketing specialists, designers, educators, and managers. A hallmark of the museum profession is that people with widely divergent skills and outlooks find ways to work together productively and creatively.
At the University of Kansas, Museum Studies is a rigorous academic discipline that prepares students to become leaders in this rapidly changing field. They are developing new approaches to museum practice through research and scholarly engagement. Students in our program gain firsthand knowledge of innovative museum work in world-class collections in KU’s Biodiversity Institute, while conducting their own research that advances the field. Museum Studies students are researching a wide range of topics. In the past year alone, their students have presented:
• Anthropologically Introduced Biases in Natural History Collections
• A Critical Assessment of Museum Hack and the Value of Renegade-Style Tour Programming
• Museums as Distributed, Decentralized, and Transparent: The Possibilities of Crowdsourcing and Blockchain
• The Museum’s Guide to Google Arts and Culture
Students can incorporate geology courses into their degree plans, too.
KU Museum Studies is an affordable program designed to accommodate a wide range of student interests, strengths, and abilities. They work closely with each student to match their curiosity and talents with the needs and directions of the museum profession. In particular, they are strongly committed to expanding the diversity of the museum profession. This year they're offering a limited number of application fee waivers to students from underrepresented backgrounds. And, they no longer require the GRE to apply!
For more information, please review their fact sheet and brochure. You can also contact Dr. Sandra Oslen at sandra.olsen@ku.edu or 785-864-6511. They also invite students to get a feel for their program by contacting their program coordinator, Brandy Ernzen (bernzen@ku.edu), to schedule Zoom meetings with faculty, current students, and local museum professionals.
Applications are due January 15.