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 Areas – 9 credits
• Museum Topical Areas – 6 credits
• Electives – 9 credits
• Museum Experience (Internship) – 3 credits
• Final Product (Research)

Core courses provide a comprehensive understanding of the theories, history, techniques and problems common to museums, historical agencies and related institutions. The capstone 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.

You’ll develop expertise in one or more of the principal specialties of museum work by completing a minimum of two courses in that area, at least one of which must be a Museum Studies (MUSE) course.

We group museum professional specialties into the following categories. For each specialty, courses incorporate training in best practices, policy development, legal and regulatory concerns, and future trends.

Leadership & Management

Courses cover areas such as administration, policy, fundraising and legal issues related to the management of nonprofit organizations.

Interpretation

Includes developing skills in exhibition design and installation, graphics and marketing, public programs, as well as innovative approaches to new and emerging technologies.

Collections

Courses develop expertise in the practices and policies associated with managing and caring for the range of materials in museum collections.

Community Connections

Courses enable you to develop skills in public programming, curriculum planning, visitor studies, audience development and volunteer management.

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 based on 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 Sciences (early childhood).

We expect you to deepen your knowledge of the field by taking courses in a subject area relevant to your area of specialization. You’ll work with your faculty advisor, as well as course instructors, to determine which courses fit your needs. MUSE also offers independent study courses so you can delve into specific topics that don't have a course offered. 

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

Your faculty advisor assists in selecting courses, oversees the development of your final product and serves as the committee chair for your final product examination.