Museum Studies (Certificate)

Courses

• MSTD-100 Intro Museum Studies (3)

  Discover how and why societies establish science, historical, natural history, and art museums.
  Together, we will explore the legal, moral, and practical considerations behind the collection and the display of artifacts, animals, and art. This course will survey the past 2500 years of collecting to introduce students to guidelines and best practices for public exhibitions and museums that support their mission to preserve and conserve “great knowledge.”

  Typically offered:
  Fall

  Attributes: YLIB
  

• MSTD-228D P3 Intro to Museum Studies (3)

  Museums are repositories of world history and knowledge in all of its formats and are significant disseminators of this knowledge. This course explores why museums exist, how they are governed, how they acquire, care for and exhibit their collections, and the efforts being made to preserve those collections. Field trips to local museums, opportunities to meet with various professionals in the museum field, and preparation of exhibits in the department’s display cases are scheduled throughout the semester. This course is required for the Museum Studies Certificate.
  Cross-listed with ARTS 228D.

  Attributes: P3 YLIB
  

• MSTD-229D P3 This Old Hse-Hist Sites (3)

  This course looks at the many aspects of operating and maintaining a historic site (house museums, battlefields, villages etc.) Topics covered include preservation, restoration, cyclical maintenance, interpretation, staffing, governance, housekeeping, disaster planning and funding. The course emphasizes the social and cultural significance of historic sites, their role in the larger community, and the importance of appropriate interpretive activities in fulfilling their cultural missions. Students learn to write a grant proposal and prepare a budget – two skills required to work in an historic site today.

  Cross-listed with ARTS 229D.

  Attributes: MUST P3 YLIB
  

• MSTD-490 Museum Studies Internship (3)

  This course allows a student to gain actual work experience in a museum, archive, or historic site operation. Internships must be approved by the program director in consultation with the student. Course requirements include a minimum of 45 hours on site for the term taken, a journal describing activities performed, an interpretative paper describing what the student learned about the organization, AND an analytic research paper on a aspect of museum studies, as appropriate to the particular internship experience, approved by the program director. The course may be taken as DEPT 490 in the student’s major or minor department under the guidance of a departmental faculty, but must still include the research paper as described above.

  Typically offered:
  Fall, Spring & Summer

  Attributes: YLIB
  Pre-requisites: ARTS-228D D- OR ANTH-228D D-
  Restrictions: Including: -Program: Certificate Museum Studies
  

• MSTD-496 Independent Study (1 TO 3)

  Preparation of an analytic research paper on a significant aspect of museum studies. Topic must be approved by the program director. This course is only open to those students who have already received a Bachelor’s degree and who are working in a museum, archive, or historic site institution and who will use this to substitute for the 490 Internship requirement toward the certificate.

  Completion of the Independent Study/Tutorial Authorization form is required.

  Typically offered:
  Summer

  Attributes: YLIB
  Pre-requisites: ARTS-228D D- OR ANTH-228D D-
  Restrictions: Including: -Program: Certificate Museum Studies