Heather Kuruvilla, J.D.

Adjunct Instructor
College of Human Development Culture and Media

Heather Hope Kuruvilla, M.A., J.D., is a museum professional with special interests in the areas of intellectual property, museum administration, board fiduciary responsibility, community development and engagement, and the ethical and thoughtful approach to necessary deaccessioning. She studied museum registration at Seton Hall University, where she attained a Master of Arts with Distinction. She holds a Certificate in Intellectual Property: Art & Museum Law from DePaul University College of Law. Her past research interests include the intersection of ethics and the law in museum deaccessioning and the impact of the Visual Artists Rights Act on museums. In 2011, the Journal of Art, Technology & Intellectual Property (v.22) published her seminar article on museums deaccessioning. Additionally, that article received honorable mention in the 2011 Lawyers’ Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation student writing competition.

Upon graduation, Heather clerked for the Honorable Melvin Gelade of the New Jersey Superior Court. Her first book, A Legal Dictionary for Museum Professionals, is available from Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

The past Interim Director of the Meadowlands Museum (Rutherford, NJ), Heather now lives in Berks County, PA, with her husband and daughter. She teaches in the M.A. Art Administration program, Department of Art Education and Crafts, at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania. When she is not writing or consulting, Heather enjoys reading, traveling, crochet and cross-stitch, and tending to her ever-expanding home vegetable garden.