M.A.

The M.A. in Museum Studies requires 36 graduate credit hours. You’ll complete the Museum Studies Core and, with guidance of academic advisors and program staff, craft an individualized, multidisciplinary degree plan to master both general and specific topics appropriate to your interests and relevant to current museum standards.

In addition to courses such as collections management, museum education, exhibits and museum management, you can gain skills as diverse as scenography, learning theory, audience evaluation, nonprofit leadership, psychology and public administration, among others.

You’ll also have access to the staff and resources of several acclaimed museums at KU and in the region. Current museum professionals teach many of our courses.

The program has six elements:  

• The Museum Studies Core (MUSE 801, MUSE 802, MUSE 803) – 9 credits
• Museum Professional Classes– 9 credits
• Museum Topical Classes – 6 credits
• Supplemental Program of Study – 9 credits
• Museum Experience (Internship) – 3 credits
• Capstone Project (Research)

Core courses provide a comprehensive understanding of the theories, history, techniques and problems common to museums, historical agencies and related institutions. The final core course (MUSE 803), taken in your third semester, provides an avenue for you to conduct research or other creative activities that advance the discipline of museum studies.

• MUSE 801 The Modern Museum: Institutions, Knowledge and Audiences: This course provides students with an overview of the historical development of museums as institutions, bodies of knowledge, and communicators with a public audience. Students will become familiar with museological theory and methods through reading and discussion of canonical and contemporary texts. Course readings and discussions will examine the purpose and functions of museums in diverse historical, geographical, cultural, and disciplinary contexts, allowing students to identify shared and distinct practices across varied museums. Site visits will familiarize students with museum practices in realms including administration, collections, curation, education, exhibits, and research. 
• MUSE 802 The Museum Profession: Ethics, Standards and Cultural Awareness: This course builds upon the foundational theoretical and disciplinary knowledge developed in MUSE 801 to interrogate the ethics and standards that govern museums as institutions, affect their operations and functions, and underlie relationships with various audiences. Students will continue their engagement with museological theory and methods to deepen their understanding of the politics and epistemologies that shape museum practice and produce ideas of authenticity and authority. Students will consider the role of museums in creating perceptions of scientific and historical truth, identity, and belonging. These considerations develop the critical faculties that will allow students to recognize opportunities to reframe museum practice along more ethical, equitable, and inclusive lines.
• MUSE 803 The Contemporary Museum in Practice: Debates and Research Methodologies: This course synthesizes and builds upon the institutional, ethical, and professional knowledge developed in MUSE 801 and MUSE 802 to engage with contemporary challenges, debates, and issues confronting museums, their staff, and their audiences. Engagement with current issues will allow students to situate their own professional and disciplinary interests in the context of the wider field of museum studies as they begin to formulate their final product topics and methodologies. Students will hone research skills, identify sources, construct bibliographies, and begin literature review for their final product, culminating in a complete final product proposal to be submitted to the instructor and the student’s committee.

You’ll develop expertise in the principal specialties of museum work by completing at least three of the following courses. Courses incorporate training in best practices, policy development, legal and regulatory concerns, and future trends.

• MUSE 699 Anthropology in Museums: The course reviews the history of archeological, ethnographic, physical anthropological and other types of collections. It also considers current issues facing anthropologists, such as: contested rights to collections and the stories that accompany them; representation and interpretation of cultures; art and artifact; conceptualization, design and building of exhibitions; and anthropological research and education in the museum.
• MUSE 701 Managing Museums: Lecture, discussion, and laboratory exercises on the nature of museums as organizations; accounting, budget cycles, personnel management, and related topics will be presented using, as appropriate, case studies and a simulated museum organization model.
• MUSE 703 Introduction to Museum Exhibits: Presentation of principles and practices of exhibit management, design, and production. Topics will include developing a master plan for museum exhibits; concept development; design, installation, and maintenance of exhibits; design theory; design process; label writing and editing; selection of materials architectural requirements and building codes; cost estimating; publicity; security; and exhibit evaluation. Consideration will be given to exhibition problems in public and private museums in the areas of anthropology, art, history, natural history, and technology.
• MUSE 704 Introduction to Collections Management and Utilization: This course examines the roles collections play in fulfilling a museum's mission; the obligations ownership/preservation of collections materials create for a museum; and the policies, practices, and professional standards that museums are required to put in place. The course will cover utilization of collections for research, education, and public engagement; address how that utilization informs the need for and structure of collections policies, and introduce the basic practices of professional collections management.
• MUSE 705 Museum Education and Public Engagement: Consideration of the goals of an institution's public education services, developing programs, identifying potential audiences, developing audiences, and funding. Workshops and demonstrations are designed for students to gain practical experience working with various programs and developing model programs.
• MUSE 706 Preventative Conservation in Museums: This course will acquaint the future museum professional with problems in conserving all types of collections. Philosophical and ethical approaches will be discussed, as well as the changing practices regarding conservation techniques. Emphasis will be placed on detection and identification of causes of deterioration in objects made of organic and inorganic materials, and how these problems can be remedied. Storage and care of objects will also be considered.
• MUSE 707 Archival Theory and Practice: Study of the principles and practices applicable to the preservation, care, and administration of archives and manuscripts. Practical experience will be an integral part of this course.
• MUSE 710 Natural History Curation and Collections Management: This course explores collections in the KU Museum of Natural History through the eyes of their curators and collection managers. It addresses aspects of collecting, cataloguing, preserving, storing, managing, and digitally archiving different types of natural science collections. The course format consists of lectures, readings, workshops, and guided tours of the museum's paleontological, biological (flora and fauna) and archaeological division collections, as well as the Spencer Museum of Art's ethnographic collections. Student projects will involve one of the museum's collections with the opportunity for hands-on experience.
• MUSE 780 Special Topics (depending on the topic of the course): Advanced courses on special topics in museum studies, given as need arises. Lectures, discussions of readings, and guest speakers. 

Museum topical courses address the conceptual and theoretical foundations of museums in depth. These courses place museological subjects in broader historical and intellectual frameworks and are often taken in disciplines represented in their museums/institutions of specialization. Students may take courses offered in one or several disciplines. Courses will be selected in consultation with the Graduate Program Coordinator - Advising and Museum Studies Director based on the student's research and professional interests, the general relevance of the course, and assurance that the student's work will be applicable to museum studies.

For instance, if you're interested in natural sciences collection management, taking courses in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology or Geology would be useful.

Want to go into museum public education? Consider courses in educational instruction technology, curriculum development or working with children with autism from the School of Education, or courses from the Gerontology Program or Applied Behavioral Science (early childhood).

Students design a unique program of study in consultation with their committee chair/advisor, the Graduate Program Coordinator - Advising, and Museum Studies Director. Courses are selected based on the student's research and professional goals and should inform the capstone project. Courses may be taken within or outside the Museum Studies Program.

The Museum Studies director advises entering students, but by the end of the first year you should choose an advisor.

Your advisor assists in selecting courses, oversees the development of your capstone project and serves as the committee chair for your master's examination.