Museum Professions Program Transforms Classrooms Into Career Pathways

 Students in Seton Hall’s M.A. in Museum Professions program recently visited several local museums for their class with Nadzeya Charapan, Ph.D., who joined the University faculty this fall. The class, Anatomy of a Museum, was a two-week long accelerated course that centered hands-on, experiential learning.

“Anatomy of a Museum has traditionally been a classroom-based course. But our program is increasingly focused on providing hands-on experiences. What better way to achieve that than by moving the classroom into the museum itself?” said Program Director James Kimble, Ph.D.

Students visited and studied several museums, getting to meet and converse with active museum professionals, view exhibitions, and tour collections storage. Local museums and galleries, including the Liberty Hall Museum, the Stickley Museum, the Morris Museum, the Museum of Early Trades and Crafts, the Jewish Heritage Museum, and the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, along with a few others, hosted the students over the course of the two weeks.

“We reached out to our museum partners in the region and found that they were thrilled about the prospect of hosting young museum professionals," Kimble noted. "The result was a new experience for our museum professionals graduate students — a two-week crash course in everything museums that I’m told was experiential, exhausting, and exhilarating."

Kaylee Long, a second-year Museum Professions student, said that getting to interact with museum professionals was important to her. “I enjoyed meeting with current museum professionals during our class. It was helpful to get to know and make connections with those who could be my future colleagues,” said Long.

“It was great to have an introduction to the museums of the region as someone who is new to the area,” said first-year student Rebecca Hampton. “I am excited to take advantage of the diverse learning opportunities these institutions provide for students like me.”

The Master of Arts in Museum Professions Program is a 39-credit, on campus graduate program that blends hands-on experience with theoretical framework, aiming to prep students for careers in museums. Part-time and full-time students are accepted on a rolling basis.

Learn more about Seton Hall’s Master of Arts in Museum Professions Program here!

About the College of Human Development, Culture, and Media

Launched in Summer 2023, Seton Hall’s College of Human Development, Culture, and Media (CHDCM) embodies the University’s commitment to pedagogical innovation, intellectual ferment and community engagement. Uniting scholars and students from four dynamic departments — Communication, Media, and the Arts; Education Leadership, Management, and Policy; Educational Studies; and Professional Psychology and Family Therapy — the College is the new home of cutting-edge, transdisciplinary inquiry into the stickiest problems of our time.

The faculty, staff and students of the College seek to improve the human condition by collaborating across distinct fields that uniquely complement one another, thereby preparing the next generation of dynamic leaders poised to tackle contemporary social challenges and opportunities. Expression underpins all facets of the integrated College’s portfolio: media as a form of education and artistic expression; teaching and learning as modes of creative expression; expression and expressibility as critical to counseling and therapeutic treatment; and self-expression as a vehicle of social agency.

Categories: Arts and Culture