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Collaboration, Diversity, and Dialogue Define CUNY SPS’s MA in Museum Studies
In Fall 2019, the CUNY School of Professional Studies (CUNY SPS) launched its newest degree program, the Master of Arts in Museum Studies.
As the semester comes to a close, Jenna Coplin, the MA in Museum Studies academic program manager, looks back at its first year and shares her thoughts on what makes this online degree offering so unique.
1) CUNY SPS launched the MA in Museum Studies in Fall 2019. How would you say this program differs from other museum studies offerings out there?
One of the main things that makes us very different is that we have a broad, practical focus. We are not necessarily training people solely as curators. We certainly have faculty who teach curatorial theory and practice, but the program is really designed to help students develop a well-rounded perspective of what museum work looks like. While students learn history, theory, curation, and education—all fundamental to what museums do—they also learn marketing, finance, and the law. We teach students to see the wide variety of roles essential to museums and prepare them to make key contributions.
A foundational aspect of the program is our partnership with the New-York Historical Society (N-YHS), the city’s oldest museum. Partnering with the N-YHS has been both exciting and transformative. The institution is part art museum and part archive, with digital collections, public events, and broad-based educational programs. The historical society affords our students a more diverse experience with a truly remarkable classroom.
The faculty are, without question, the most meaningful part of this partnership. Each semester key staff from all over the N-YHS take on the roll of faculty. Students learn finance in a class developed and taught by their Chief Financial Officer; the same is true for the courses in education, curation, and development. The faculty share something invaluable with students: their depth of experience.
While we continue to prepare students for many different roles within the museum world, we are now faced with unprecedented circumstances. The COVID-19 crisis has created new and serious challenges for most institutions and, while the long-term implications are still unknown, one thing remains clear: the 21st-century museum will be increasingly virtual. While we face uncertainty, I am confident our students will not only be prepared for the future but will have a hand in making it.
2) Speaking of the New-York Historical Society, the website notes that the Museum Studies program offers practicums at the museum. Can you tell us a bit more about them?
Yes, three of the five required core courses have practicums attached to them. The practicums are planned events at the N-YHS and are integrated with specific courses. Students who are in the area can attend in-person. Those who are available but not local can attend via livestream. This way students can remotely participate in the dialogue. We also accommodate students who are not able to attend either in person or at the time of the livestream—all the videos of the events are archived on the course site. They are fully closed captioned and online.
In all instances, the practicums are engaging for all our students, regardless of how they access them. Needless to say, starting around mid-March, faculty had to adapt these practicums to fully online events. This meant using new tools and rethinking some sessions. When we are able to return, we intend to take these experiences with us.
The practicums cover a variety of subjects and feature guest speakers from all over the N-YHS ranging from the head of its gift shops to the head of security, as well as experts from the larger museum world.
Those students who are able to attend in person most often find themselves in the N-YHS while it is open with access to current exhibits (and occasionally those not yet open to the public). In recent weeks, digital recordings of education programs and online collaboration tools served as context.
3) The MA in Museum Studies program is committed to diversity. Can you tell us a bit more about this?
The program seeks to contribute to diversity in our museums and cultural institutions. In fact this is its focus. We serve a diverse group of students and as a result our curriculum is a major component of this work. We bring students and faculty together in considered conversations guided by assignments and activities that lend themselves to dialogues about diversity, inclusion, access, and equity across our courses.
We include courses that directly address issues of diversity in the curriculum. An example is the Disability and Diversity Studies (DSAB 605) course offered by the MA in Disability Studies program, which focuses on disability as a category of diversity and identity in comparison with other categories, such as race, class, gender, and ethnicity.
Access also pertains to financial barriers. CUNY, as an institution, has worked to keep its tuition attainable. Sometimes we can do more. A scholarship, supported by N-YHS and specifically for museum studies students, created a path for the program’s first students who might not otherwise have been able to attend. Students admitted in our first two semesters, who are either from under-represented groups or whose work demonstrated a commitment to diversity, were able to apply for scholarships.
4) Anything else about the program you’d like to add?
I have just been amazed by our students and how invested they are in the program! I think these students are poised to make change—especially during this challenging time—and I am excited to see how the community grows.
Visit the MA in Museum Studies page for more information.
About the Master of Arts in Museum Studies
The MA in Museum Studies online degree program grounds students in the theory and practical applications of museum operations, including administration, finance, curation, technology, and education. Developed in collaboration with the New-York Historical Society (N-YHS), students gain the knowledge, skills, and preparation necessary to engage in professional museum practice.
About the CUNY School of Professional Studies
For over 15 years, the CUNY School of Professional Studies (CUNY SPS) has been leading online education in New York. Offering the most fully online Bachelor’s and Master’s degree options at the City University of New York, CUNY SPS meets the needs of adults who are looking to finish a bachelor’s degree, advance from an associate’s degree, earn a master’s degree or certificate in a specialized field, and progress in the workplace or change careers.
The School’s growth has been remarkable, with twenty-three degrees launched since 2006. Enrollment has risen by more than 30% in the last four years to over 3,700 students in the credit-bearing programs and thousands more who are enrolled in non-degree and grant-funded workforce development programs. In addition, the School has an active Alumni network and has established the CUNY SPS Foundation, which offers multiple scholarship opportunities to current students.
CUNY SPS has been ranked in the nation’s top 5% by U.S. News & World Report for the past six years, most recently in its list of the 2020 Best Online Bachelor’s Degree Programs, making CUNY SPS the highest nationally listed program in New York State and New York City.
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