Curriculum
Course credits for the Museum Studies Minor are divided into four areas: the Museum
Studies Core, the Methods Core, Elective Courses, and the Cultural Experience.
The preliminary core of courses in museology and marketing engage students in the
ethical and practical challenges facing curatorial institutions. An internship at
a museum, archive, or historic preservation institution provides students valuable
hands-on experience. The internship combines the practical experience in the operations
of the museum and exhibition strategies with firsthand experience handling art, artifacts,
archives, and specimens.
The choice of methods courses provides students with a solid foundation in the methods
and approaches to art, anthropological, historical, and scientific objects. Elective
courses build a breadth of knowledge into the minor. The choice of elective courses
allows students to design the minor to complement their major or to enhance their
expertise in an area outside their major. The cultural experience requirement--through
study abroad courses or through courses in a foreign or indigenous language--encourages
students to broaden their points of view and to expand their interpretive skills for
future research and practice.
Required Courses
The minor requires 21 credit hours including the internship. In addition, the choice
of a Study Abroad experience or courses in a foreign language is in place to provide
cultural breadth. All courses for the minor must be completed with a grade of C (2.0)
or better.
A. Museum Studies Core, 9 credit hours required:
1. ART 2700 (CH), cross-listed with ANTH/AMST/HIST 2700: Introduction to Museology;
2. Choose one of the following three: ENGL 4075: Writing for Non-Profits: Grant Writing,
or MKT 3210:
Introduction to Marketing, or FCSC 4117: Understanding Community Leadership;
3. Internship (ART 4400, ANTH 4970, HIST 4400, or corresponding number in student's
major
department). The internship in a museum or other curatorial institution must be
approved and
supervised by the Museum Studies Advisory Committee Chair.
B. Methods Core, 6 credit hours to be chosen from the following courses:
AMST 2400: Introduction to Historic Preservation
AMST 4300: American Culture and the Public Sector
AMST 4900: Field Studies in Historic Preservation
ANTH 3300: Ethnographic Methods
ANTH 3310: Anthropology Research Methods
ANTH 4020: Seminar in Collections Management
ANTH 4190: Public Archaeology
ART 4790: Seminar in Art History
ENTO 4684: Classification of Insects
GEOL 2080: Field Geology
GEOL 4717: Field Geology
GEOL4113: Geological Remote Sensing
HIST 2050: Public History
HIST 3020: Historical Methods
HIST 4030: Department Proseminar
HIST 4050: Advanced Public History
HIST 4055: Archival Research Methods
C. Elective Courses:
6 credit hours to be chosen from the approved list of electives. Students will choose
courses from the elective list in conjunction with their advisor, based on their area(s)
of interest. Additional courses listed in the museum studies and methods cores (Parts
A.2 and B above) can be chosen as electives.
See attached list of courses according to the department.
D. Cultural Experience / International Fieldwork, choose one of the following:
1. Study Abroad / International Field School Students may enroll or participate in
an approved study
abroad course or program (credit hours vary);
2. Foreign or Indigenous Language - Students may enroll in 12 hours of a foreign or
indigenous
language. 8 of the 12 hours must be in the same language. American Sign Language
does not
qualify.
