Courses

MST 5302 Professional Development. A course that prepares the student for entry into the museum profession. The student will apply the rules of professionalism, describe the structure of professional museum organizations, describe and demonstrate methods of providing services to the profession and public, and identify mechanisms for personal development and professionalism.

MST 5304 Modern Management of Museum Collections. Students identify the philosophies and practices of the development and maintenance of museum collections, distinguish traditional methodologies with modern management concepts, and demonstrate, describe, and apply the rules for utilizing available resources for the improved care and management of collections. Prerequisite: MST 5301

MST 5309 Museum Education. Students identify the philosophy and techniques of educational programming in museums or related institutions. Topics include educational theory, audience characteristics, visitor motivation, program research and management, and evaluation techniques. Prerequisite: MST 5301

MST 5311 Museum Administration. Students identify the rules and principles of museum administration and demonstrate their application of trusteeship, staff and personal management, leadership and administration styles, organizational theory and structure, budgeting and financial management, and membership and volunteer organizations. Prerequisite: MST 5301

MST 5313 Museum Law. Students identify laws critical to museums including patterns of institutional ownership, liability, ownership and repatriation of cultural patrimony, valuation of contributions, unrelated business income, fund raising, copyright, contracts, benefits for members of support organizations, and pending legislation. Students describe the relationship between ethics and law, with emphasis on collecting, appraisals and valuation, and health and safety.

MST 5317 Museum Marketing and Development. Students identify and distinguish between the different approaches and sources used to increase financial support for museums. They apply the theory and techniques of researching, writing, and administering grants; formulate development and planned giving strategies and approaches, and apply these to individual and class projects.

MST 5321 Design and Management of Museum Facilities. Students identify the physical facilities used by museums and related organizations, from historic houses and adaptively re-used buildings to formal structures designed specifically for the care and use of collections and at the education of visitors. They describe the management needs imposed by spatial and operational needs in modern museums and historic buildings and demonstrate a knowledge of the requirements of climate and visitor use.

MST 5323 Historic Preservation and Site Management. Students examine concerns in the administration of historic sites, history museums, historical societies, historic houses, and related cultural institutions, focusing in part on the individual needs of students comprising the class.

MST 5327 Museum Special Topics Seminar. Seminar in which students identify subjects of particular interest within the broad field of museum study and demonstrate the rules, standards, and practices of the topic. Topics are selected on the basis of expressed interest by both students and faculty members. Maximum 9 sem. hrs.

MST 5328 Material Culture. Students identify the five properties of artifacts and distinguish between their use as representatives of culture and definers of culture. Students will demonstrate a knowledge of cultural interpretation utilizing artifacts, photographs, prints and paintings, buildings, and landscape.

MST 5329 American Decorative Arts and Furnishings in Museum Settings. Students survey decorative arts and identify their use and misuse in period rooms, historic houses, and exhibits or displays. Students demonstrate how to develop artistic and interpretative exhibits relating to decorative arts and/or furnishing plans for period rooms or historic residential, commercial, or military buildings.

MST 5331 Design and Management of Museum Exhibits. Students identify and describe the philosophy of educational exhibits in museums, and apply exhibit techniques in planning, researching, script writing, design, and fabrication in a natural history or historical institution.

MST 5332 Preventive Conservation. Students demonstrate and apply rules regarding the theory and application of preventive conservation practices in a museum setting giving special emphasis to degradation processes, characteristics of materials, and the development of collection care programs. Students apply the rules of preventive conservation in a laboratory and demonstrate an ability to observe, interpret, and describe results of exercise. Prerequisite: MST 5301

MST 5V40 Independent Studies in Museums. Students identify an individual research project related to the student's area of interest. Students formulate project objectives, develop working parameters, construct a project design, and demonstrate an ability to complete a project and describe project results. Approval of the professor and student's graduate committee required. Maximum 6 sem. hrs.

MST 5V60 Museum Internship. Students undertake professional work in a museum or related organization and demonstrate, describe, and apply classroom theory and practices under the supervision of a departmental faculty member and representative of the host institution. Students describe their procedures and experiences in a daily journal, portfolio, and supervisor's report.

MST 5V98 Master's Project In Museum Studies. The Master's Project in Museum Studies functions as the non-thesis option to fulfill graduation requirements for the M.A. in museum studies. The project must be a significant contribution to the profession demonstrating the same scholastic abilities required for the thesis option. The project constitutes supervised independent work by the student on an approved topic. Six (6) semester hours required for completion of graduation requirements.

MST 5V99 Thesis. Supervised preparation of the master's thesis, with six semester hours required for graduation. Maximum 10 sem. hrs.