Meet the Class of 2021!

November 16, 2020 by usfmuseumstudiesblog

The Museum Studies program was honored to welcome a new cohort of students to its ranks in August of this year. Despite having started their academic journey in the midst of a global pandemic, the Class of 2021 has shown its grit and resilience from day one and has hit the ground running. And while the class isn’t physically on campus, these students are bringing their breadth of skills and talents to immediately make an impact on the USF community. […]

Categories: Community, Museum Studies • Tags: community, education, museum studies, students, USF

I, Too, Bear Witness: Prison Museums as Sites of Conscience

November 2, 2020 by usfmuseumstudiesblog

by Alexa Canova-Parker (Class of 2021) On September 24, 2020, the University of San Francisco’s (USF) Museum Studies Program and the Thacher Gallery co-presented Prison Museums as Sites of Conscience, a virtual public lecture by Sean Kelley of the Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site (ESP). Dr. Paula Birnbaum, USF Professor and Academic Director of the MUSE program, served as moderator. The lecture was presented in conjunction with the Thacher exhibition A Matter of Liberation: Artwork from Prison Renaissance, on view […]

Categories: Community, Exhibits, Museum Studies, Social Justice • Tags: Eastern State Penitentiary, Prison Renaissance, social justice, students, Thacher Gallery, University of San Francisco Museum Studies, USF Museum Studies

Celebrating the “Museum of Marjorie”

September 7, 2020 by usfmuseumstudiesblog

On August 31, 2020, over eighty members of the USF Museum Studies community convened at a Zoom retirement party to celebrate the career of Marjorie Schwarzer. An award-winning writer, critic, and educator, Schwarzer served as the founding Administrative Director of the program since 2012, following her tenure as professor and chair of the Department of Museum Studies at John F. Kennedy University for over 15 years. Prior to her teaching career she held leadership positions in museums — including the […]

Categories: Alumni, Collaborations, Forums, Museum Studies

Steven Tulsky demystifies management and finance for emerging museum professionals

August 31, 2020 by usfmuseumstudiesblog

By Iyari Arteaga (MA, 2020) To continue our conversation with our faculty members, today we highlight professor Steven Tulsky, who has co-taught Cultural and Financial Management with professor Marjorie Schwarzer since 2015 (the course will be renamed Museum Management in Spring 2021), as he shares his own career path, passion for the non-profit sector, and goals for the course.  Q. Steve, tell us a little about yourself and your career path? ST: I am a very un-corporate person who somehow ended up for a time in […]

Categories: Interviews, Museum Studies • Tags: Cultural and Financial Management, finance, interview, leadership, management, Museum Management, museum studies, non-profit sector, USF faculty, volunteer

#AAMvirtual2020: Hope through Reimagining

August 24, 2020 by usfmuseumstudiesblog

by Iyari Arteaga (MA, 2020) If someone would have told me that my first time attending the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) Annual Meeting and MuseumExpo would happen during the time of a global crisis and racial pandemic in the United States, and that the entire conference would be virtual, I probably would have squinted my eyes and laughed it off. However, this was the reality for all who attended AAM’s first virtual conference in May and June of 2020, […]

Categories: Forums, Museum Studies, Social Justice • Tags: professional development, social justice, USF Museum Studies

Intern-connectivity: More Summer 2020 adventures

August 17, 2020 by usfmuseumstudiesblog

The hallmark of a consummate museum professional is the ability to be resilient and pivot according to the needs of the moment. That is exactly what the graduate museum studies students did during Summer 2020. Last week we highlighted the work of our eight capstone writers and earlier this summer, this blog featured the Summer 2020 internship work of Kaylee Pinola at the National Museum of the American Indian and Gabriella Silva at the Western Neighborhood Project. In this week’s […]

Categories: internships, Museum Studies • Tags: art, California history, history, internships, technology, USF Museum Studies

New directions for museums: Students present their Summer 2020 capstones

August 10, 2020 by usfmuseumstudiesblog

Within every crisis, come opportunities for re-imagining the future. That is what eight graduate museum studies students learned during Summer 2020 as part of Marjorie Schwarzer’s Summer Capstone course. The course was put together to meet the needs of those students who saw their onsite internship opportunities postponed as a result of the COVID-19 lockdown. Within eleven short and intensive weeks, each student envisioned, researched and authored a project which examined diverse possibilities for museums within the new realities of […]

Categories: Community, Forums, Museum Studies, Social Justice • Tags: art, feminism, global, history, research, social justice, USF Museum Studies

Intern-connectivity: John Lewis and the 1964 Human Rights March in San Francisco

August 3, 2020 by usfmuseumstudiesblog

by Gabrielle Silva (MA, 2020) Editors’ note:  We are pleased to share this fascinated blog post by University of San Francisco Museum Studies graduate student Gabrielle Silva, written in Summer 2020 under the guidance of Museum Studies alumna Nicole Meldahl who serves as Executive Director of the Western Neighborhoods Project (WNP).  The post was written to honor the legendary Civil Rights icon John Lewis who marched for Human Rights in San Francisco in July 1964. To read this post in […]

Categories: internships, Museum Studies, Social Justice • Tags: California history, internships, photography, social justice, students, technology, USF Museum Studies

The Virtual Museum: Before Virtual

July 27, 2020 by usfmuseumstudiesblog

by Megan K. Udell (MA, 2019) Many museums have closed for nearly five months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A few are beginning to reopen, though not necessarily at full capacity, thanks to social distancing policies as well as widespread layoffs of frontline museum staff. During the hiatus, virtual exhibits, tours, and programs have been a top priority in continuing to offer services to the public. Today, the “virtual museum” is synonymous with digital objects and online experiences, but that […]

Categories: Alumni, Exhibits, Forums • Tags: Alumni, art, technology, University of San Francisco Museum Studies