Alumni Spotlight: Jenna Blair MA’16

July 26, 2021 by jplasencia3

Last week, I had the privilege of interviewing alumna, Jenna Blair MA’ 16, for the blog. We spoke about her time at USF, the valuable lessons she learned while in the program, and her exciting work as a Curatorial Assistant for the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art. Jenna is a superstar alumna and we are honored to feature her on the blog!   What is your educational and professional background? I have a background in painting […]

Categories: Alumni, Community, Exhibits, Interviews, Museum Studies • Tags: Alumni, art, manettishrem, museum studies

Alumni Spotlight: Libby Tyson MA ‘19

June 30, 2021 by usfmuseumstudiesblog

USF Museum Studies alumna, Libby Tyson MA ’19, recently sat down for an interview with philanthropist, author, educator, and women’s empowerment advocate, Dr. Nancy O’Reilly. The two spoke about Libby’s journey into the world of museums and about her current work on the Women Writing History Project at the National Women’s History Museum (NWHM), the nation’s leading women’s history museum dedicated to uncovering, interpreting and celebrating women’s contributions to society. In her conversation with Dr. Nancy, Libby emphasized the importance […]

Categories: Alumni, Community, Exhibits, Museum Studies, Social Justice • Tags: #alumni, #historyisnow, #museumstudies, #womenshistory

MSGA Event Recap: Fostering Empathy and Anti-Racism in Museum Spaces

June 16, 2021 by usfmuseumstudiesblog

By MSGA Secretary, Stephanie Kerry MA ’21 and MSGA President, Tessa Harden MA ’21 On May 7, 2021, the Museum Studies Graduate Association (MSGA) hosted their annual spring speaker event, featuring museum professional and consultant, Gretchen Jennings. With a career spanning over 30 years, Jennings has had multiple roles in the museum field, including educator, administrator, and exhibition project director. Jennings has also served as Editor-in-Chief for two major museum publications: Journal of Museum Education and Exhibition, the journal of […]

Categories: Anti-Racism, Collaborations, Community, MSGA, Museum Studies, Social Justice • Tags: antiracism, DEIA, Empathetic Museum, MSGA, museum studies

Rethinking the Museum Apparatus: Museum Studies Panel Explores New Possibilities for Cultural Work

June 1, 2021 by jplasencia3

Leading up to the end of an extraordinary and unprecedented academic year, the Museum Studies MA Program kicked off a series of exciting events throughout late April and early May for students and for the larger USF community. One of these events, “Outside the Apparatus: Alternatives to Museum-Based Exhibitions and Community-Engaged Programming” was a virtual panel moderated by Program Manager, Javier Plasencia, on April 30th. The panel engaged three dynamic artists and cultural workers whose practices engage a diversity of […]

Categories: Collaborations, Community, Exhibits, Forums, Museum Studies, Social Justice, Uncategorized • Tags: changethemuseum, museum studies, panels

Greetings from Quarantine! USF Museum Studies Students Foster Connection During Pandemic Through Virtual Postcard Exhibition

May 20, 2021 by usfmuseumstudiesblog

Guest authors and undergraduate USF Museum Studies minors, Jenna Smith (Communication Studies, ‘22) and Madeline Hoisington (English, ‘23), recount their Museum Studies I class’s experience in curating an exhibition of postcard art made by students in the Department of Art + Architecture who creatively reflected on living and studying remotely during the Covid-19 pandemic. The global pandemic has changed all of our lives. Though no two personal experiences have been the same, people across the globe have dealt with unprecedented […]

Categories: Collaborations, Community, Exhibits, Museum Studies • Tags: community, COVID, curatorial, exhibit, museum studies, postcard

Museum Studies MA Program Hosts First Virtual Trivia Night!

April 26, 2021 by jplasencia3

Which museum’s foyer is now housed in a former industrial turbine hall? Would you venture a guess as to which “micro-country” has the largest concentration of museums? Have a knack for antiquities? Then do you know which ancient philosopher founded the first museum in order to house his zoological collection? If you’re stumped, join the club! On Friday, April 16th the USF Museum Studies MA Program hosted its first-ever trivia night.  Organized and emceed by Sharon Levy MA ’21 and […]

Categories: Community, Museum Studies • Tags: community, museum studies, trivia night

Outside the Apparatus: Alternatives to Museum-based Exhibitions and Community-Engaged Programming

April 20, 2021 by jplasencia3

Please join the Museum Studies MA Program for an exciting panel on Friday, April 30th at 2:30PM. Outside the Apparatus: Alternative to Museum-based Exhibition and Community-Engaged Programming will bring together three cultural workers currently making a profound impact within their respective communities by way of providing resources and programming usually attributed to museums. Panelists will explore the difficulties of engaging and/or building community outside the resources usually provided by the traditional museum apparatus and, conversely, ways in which autonomy has […]

Categories: Collaborations, Community, Museum Studies, Social Justice • Tags: community engagement, cultural workers, guest speaker, museum studies, panel, social justice

Enriching Collective Knowledge at USF’s Annual Art + Feminism Wikipedia Edit-A-Thon

March 29, 2021 by usfmuseumstudiesblog

By Vi Bui MA ‘21 In celebration of Women’s History Month, University of San Francisco recently held its annual Art + Feminism Wikipedia Edit-A-Thon for the 8th consecutive year. Taking place on March 8, 2021, International Women’s Day, this year’s Edit-A-Thon was part of the 20th anniversary of the university’s Global Women’s Right Forum. Co-hosted by a team of librarians from Gleeson Library | Geschke Center, in collaboration with faculty from USF’s Art History BA and Museum Studies MA programs, […]

Categories: Collaborations, Community, Forums, Museum Studies, Social Justice, Uncategorized • Tags: #edit-a-thon, #genderequity, #museumstudies, #wikipedia

In Conversation: Dan Hicks & Ndubuisi Ezeluomba

March 22, 2021 by usfmuseumstudiesblog

By: Caroline Gruber, MA ’21, Museum Studies Graduate Student Assistant On Tuesday, March 2, the Museum Studies MA cohort had the amazing opportunity to attend a moderated discussion between Professor Dan Hicks, Professor of Contemporary Archaeology at the University of Oxford and Curator at the Pitt Rivers Museum, and Dr. Ndubuisi C. Ezeluomba, the Françoise Billion Richardson Curator of African Art at the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA). The event centered on Hicks’s recently published book, The Brutish Museums: […]

Categories: Collaborations, Cultural Repatriation, Museum Studies, Social Justice, Uncategorized • Tags: benin bronzes, Cultural Repatriation, museum studies