Museum Studies

College of Humanities
Dean: Nancy McDermid

Museum Studies Program
HUM 528
415-338-1612
Director: Linda Ellis

Graduate Coordinator: Linda Ellis

Program

 M.A. in Museum Studies

Program Scope

An interdisciplinary Master of Arts in Museum Studies is offered through the Department of Classics. The 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 academic 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--Bernstein, Ellis

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 six units of work taken in post-baccalaureate status is transferable to M.A. degree credit in the Museum Studies Program.

Applicants must:

Written English Proficiency Requirement

 Level One:satisfactory performance in final research paper for MS 700, MS 750, or MS 800. 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 794, MS 880.

Units

Core Requirements

MS 700	History and Organization of 

Museums [required during first 

semester of program]			3

MS 794	Museum Collections Management	 

and Registration			3


MS 880	Museum Internship			3

Total for core		9

Area Requirements

 
One course selected from each of the following 

three groups:		9-10

Conservation

 
CLAR 850	Museum Conservation and

Restoration

MS 750	Museum Materials Analysis and 

Technology

Museum Management

 
MS 800	Museum Management, Law, 

and Ethics

PA 770	Administration of Non-Profit 

Organizations (4)

Exhibition Design

 
ART 719	Exhibit Design

MS 730	Museum Exhibit Design and 


	Curation

Total area requirements		9-10

Emphasis

 
Three interdisciplinary electives selected in an 

area of specialization, which must be 

chosen in consultation with the Director 

of Museum Studies		9

Curation

Exhibition Design

Conservation and Restoration

Museum and Gallery Management

Museum Education and Public 

Programming


Registration/Collections Management

Total for emphasis		9

Culminating Experience Requirement

 
One of the following:		3

MS 894	Creative Work Project


MS 898	Master's Thesis

Minimum total		30-31