Intern-connectivity: SFO Museum

June 22, 2020 by usfmuseumstudiesblog

by Nikki Christensen (MA, 2020) Me: Yeah, I’ve been working for years as a Product Marketer/Brand Director in gaming and I’ve decided to hit Ctrl-Alt-Del on my professional life. The goal is to restart my career in the Museum field. Not me: Wow. So, you’re going to help museums better market themselves? Me: No. No. No. Not me: Huh. So, you’re going to be a curator then? Me: No. I don’t think so? Actually, I’m not quite sure what I […]

Categories: Alumni, internships, Museum Studies • Tags: California history, collections, conservation, internships, professional development, USF Museum Studies

USF Museum Studies Graduate Association wins 2020 Leadership and Engagement Award

May 18, 2020 by usfmuseumstudiesblog

We are pleased and proud to announce that on May 8, 2020, USF’s Office of Student Leadership and Engagement, Division of Student Life announced that the Museum Studies Graduate Association (MSGA) has been selected as the recipient of this year’s Graduate Student Organization of the Year Award.  And on top of that, our very own Professor Nathan Dennis has been honored with the Graduate Student Organization Advisor of the Year Award!   This well-deserved recognition honors MSGA as one of the strongest, most active, […]

Categories: Alumni, Community, Museum Studies • Tags: community, professional development, USF faculty, USF Museum Studies

Intern-connectivity: Textile Conservation at the deYoung Museum

May 4, 2020 by usfmuseumstudiesblog

by Adelle Kincel (MA, 2019) Fashion has become a hugely popular attraction in exhibitions in recent years. Garments are as close to a physical embodiment of the past as we can visualize: it is easy for us to look at a piece of clothing and imagine the living, breathing body that wore it. Our imagination can take root in a garment, and we can begin to understand the historical period in which its wearer lived, their economic status or social […]

Categories: Alumni, internships, Museum Studies • Tags: collections, conservation, internships, textiles, USF Museum Studies

Intern-connectivity: Art Talk at the deYoung Museum

April 6, 2020 by usfmuseumstudiesblog

by Rachel Brickell (MA, 2019) During my third week of working as a Studio Assistant for the de Young’s 2019 summer camp program, I delivered an “art talk” about Jay DeFeo’s “Tuxedo Junction” (pictured below) during the camp’s morning assembly. For the art talk, I needed to choose a work on view in the de Young that aligned with the camp’s weekly theme of “Mess it Up.” During that particular week, teaching artists created projects for campers that allowed them […]

Categories: Alumni, internships, Museum Studies • Tags: art, DeYoung Museum, education, internships, USF Museum Studies

Alumni Connect: Chief Black Coal’s journey back home

February 24, 2020 by usfmuseumstudiesblog

By Jordan Dresser (MA, 2015) Editors’ note:  We are pleased to reprint this recent article by USF Museum Studies alumnus Jordan Dresser.  Jordan currently serves as Collections Manager for the Northern Arapaho Historical Collections in Wind River, Wyoming.  To the see original article:  click here. “It’s the tribe’s now.” Temple Smith had tears in his eyes as he uttered those words to me on a cold January day. It was understandable. Letting go is hard. But letting go is the […]

Categories: Alumni, Community, Museum Studies, Social Justice • Tags: Alumni, collections, law, social justice, USF Museum Studies

Celebrating Our Alumni

February 10, 2020 by Paula Birnbaum

by Paula Birnbaum Editors’ note: A year ago, on February 8, 2019, USF’s Master’s Program in Museum Studies held its first ever reunion to celebrate the momentous occasion of the fifth anniversary of our program. Organized in conjunction with the annual meeting of the California Association of Museums, over 100 alumni of the USF Museum Studies Program convened for a festive gathering at the Marines Memorial Club in San Francisco. Today we are reprinting an excerpt from a speech given at […]

Categories: Alumni • Tags: Alumni, USF faculty, USF Museum Studies

Intern-connectivity: Memoirs of the Eocene — Giant Skulls and Ethafoam at the California Academy of Sciences

December 9, 2019 by usfmuseumstudiesblog

by Dakota Harr (MA, 2019) One of my most exciting projects at the California Academy of Sciences during my Summer 2019 Geology Collections internship was the work I did on a massive skull of the prehistoric mammal, Brontops. Standing at around 8-feet tall and 16-feet long, (roughly the size of an African Elephant today), Brontops was an impressive sight during the late Eocene epoch of North America. With a big stocky body and large y-shaped horn situated right on the […]

Categories: Alumni, internships, Museum Studies • Tags: collections, internships, nature, science, USF Museum Studies

Policies, Procedures, and Forms: The Documentation of Museum Collection Practices

October 21, 2019 by usfmuseumstudiesblog

by Mackenzie Doerksen (MA, 2019) Documentation is a critical element for maintaining museum materials in an ethical and legal manner and can be manifested as a form, policy, or procedure. Every museum has different documentation that fits the needs of their mission and collection and stipulates the expected standards of care. Documentation is a way to uphold ethical and legal practices. Practically, it is in large part risk management, as it tries to address as many potential collection scenarios as […]

Categories: Alumni, internships, Museum Studies • Tags: Alumni, anthropology, collections, internships, social justice, technology

Alumni Connect: Social Media Journalism at the AAM Conference in New Orleans

August 5, 2019 by usfmuseumstudiesblog

by Angela Gala (MA, 2016) After moving back to Europe from America in 2016, I had never been able to come visit until last month. That’s when I flew all the way to New Orleans to attend this year’s Annual Meeting of the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) and document it through my Instagram and Twitter accounts (@imamusaller). Much to my surprise, this year I was selected as one of AAM’s Social Media Journalists (SMJs). Since I was assigned an international focus, I also had the wonderful […]

Categories: Alumni, Museum Studies • Tags: Alumni, professional development, technology, USF Museum Studies