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Museum Administration, Master of Arts
This program provides opportunities for research and professional training in the history and preservation of cultural artifacts.
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Succeed in New York City's vibrant art field with Master of Arts (M.A.) in Museum Administration from St. John's University!
This program provides opportunities for research and professional training in the history and preservation of cultural artifacts. You are offered the academic expertise and practical knowledge you need to build a career of your choice as a collections and/or exhibition manager, curator, events manager, museum educator, registrar, rights and reproductions manager, or social media or technology specialist. You can also consider a career in museum fundraising/development and membership, or pursue a career in related areas of Public History and Library and Information Science as an archivist or database specialist.
Our students have also sought high-level positions in various museums in the fields of art, aviation, history, natural history, and memorial institutions. Others have obtained positions in auction houses and art advisory services, botanical gardens, community-based cultural centers, historic houses, and performing arts institutions. You complete a required internship at a site relevant to your career goals and you have the option of completing a second internship. In addition to the sites listed below, students have also interned at the US National Park Service through our unique partnership with the M.A. in Public History program.
Courses in the M.A. in Museum Administration program are taught by active museum professionals. Annual special topic seminars are offered that address timely issues in the museum field.
You actively engage with New York City’s vibrant art world through course work and internships that prepare you to enter the job market with wide-ranging knowledge and experience in a variety of professional specializations. As part of the program at St. John’s, you build a personalized program of study encompassing required courses in museum administration and related electives in Public History and Library and Information Science.
Classes are offered in person although some online courses may be available. You can combine study and internship experiences in New York City to launch into your chosen career path. You gain knowledge of the city’s vast cultural offerings and internship/career opportunities. We welcome students from diverse academic and professional backgrounds.
Applications are accepted on a rolling basis year-round, and graduate assistantships with funding support are available through competitive application.
St. John’s University’s Queens campus features the Dr. M. T. Geoffrey Yeh Art Gallery, allowing you to gain hands-on experience with curating an exhibition. Courses are delivered in the evenings to accommodate working professionals and students pursuing internships.
As a student in the Museum Administration master’s program, you may also qualify for a Curating, Museum Education, or Museum Studies Digital Badges.
The M.A. in Museum Administration at St. John’s is approved by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design.
- Degree Type
- MA
- Area of Interest
- The Arts
- Associated Colleges or Schools
- Program Location
- Queens Campus
- Required Credit Hours
- 36
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Admission
Applicants to the M.A. in Museum Administration must present
- evidence of the successful completion of a bachelor’s degree with a major in an area that intersects with museum practice (e.g., anthropology, art history, business, communications, English, fashion, fine arts, film/video, graphic design, history, journalism, library and information science, photography, and public relations).
- A cumulative undergraduate grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 or higher, as well as a 3.0 or higher in the major discipline
Students who have not met the GPA requirement as undergraduates may take two courses on a non-matriculated basis to demonstrate the ability to succeed at graduate-level work—and then enter the program as a full-time matriculated student. (All students who have taken this path have succeeded).
Contact
Susan Rosenberg, Ph.D.
Director, M.A. in Museum Administration
Professor, Department of Art and Design
[email protected]
Office of Graduate Admission
718-990-1601
[email protected]
Courses
M.A. Museum Administration Degree Requirements
The M.A. in Museum Administration requires 36 semester hours. A maximum of nine credits may be substituted from Library and Information Science, Public History, or another appropriate graduate program with approval from the graduate director.
Required Courses
| ART 101 | Introduction to Working in Museums | 3 credits |
| ART 102 | The Modern Museum: History, Theory, and Practice | 3 credits |
| ART 103 | Writing for Museums | 3 credits |
| ART 105 | Introduction to Curatorial Studies (Prerequisite: ART 103) | 3 credits |
| ART 106; 107 | Topics in Museum Administration I; II | 6 credits |
| ART 600 | Internship I | 3 credits |
*Each semester a different Special Topics Course (ART 106/107) is offered so you have choices as to how to fulfill these two-course requirements. Recently offered special topics courses include “Fundraising and Development for Museums,” “The Global 21st Century Museum: Issues and Debates,” “Race and Colonialism in Museum Controversies: Legal, Political and Ethical Debates,” and “Virtual Reality and Media in Museums.”
Sample Elective Courses
| ART 301 | The Museum as Learning Environment | 3 credits |
| ART 500 | The Business of Museums | 3 credits |
| ART 502 | Museums and Technology in the 21st Century | 3 credits |
| ART 601 | Internship II | 3 credits |
| ART 602 | Supervised Research | 3 credits |
Career Outcomes
A master’s degree in Museum Administration prepares you to enter the dynamic, fast-paced world of international and local cultural institutions. With this training, you qualify for a wide range of professional museum specializations, including collections management, curation, exhibition management, fundraising and development, marketing and public relations, museum education and programming, and social media and technology.
Through the required internship (one or two-semester options), you align your academic interests and career goals with first-hand training and mentorship, establishing foundational networks and skills to launch your career. The degree opens doors leading to positions in art and history museums, community art centers, cultural centers around the globe, cultural heritage sites and art galleries in New York City, and historical societies.
Recent graduates of the Museum Administration program have completed internships and/or obtained jobs in the areas of archives management; art advisory services; auction house sales/management; collections management/registrar; curatorial research; exhibitions installation; fundraising; and museum education with the following prestigious institutions:
Albright Knox Gallery Buffalo, NY | American Museum of Natural History Los Angeles, CA | American Museum of Natural History New York, NY | ArtTable: The National Association of Women in the Arts New York, NY |
| Barnebys.com | The Desai Seth Foundation New York, NY | El Museo del Barrio New York, NY | The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History New York, NY |
Guild Hall East Hampton, NY | Hofstra University Museum Hempstead, NY | Hudson Valley Museum of Contemporary Art Peekskill, NY | The Jewish Museum New York, NY |
John Jay Homestead Katonah, NY | Kings Manor Historic House Queens, NY | Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space New York, NY | Mystic Seaport Museum Stonington, CT |
National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institute New York, NY | National Parks of New York Harbor New York, NY | New York Foundation for the Arts New York, NY | The 9/11 Memorial and Museum New York, NY |
Pace Gallery New York, NY | The Rubin Museum of Art New York, NY | Shapiro Auctions | Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Washington D.C. |
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum New York, NY | Tenement Museum New York, NY | US Forestry Service, “Engaging Native American Youth on Public & Ancestral Land” | Voelker Orth Museum Queens, NY |
Faculty
Susan Rosenberg, Ph.D., earned a doctorate from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, in the field of early modern sculpture, design, and collecting practices in 1920s France. With 20 years of museum experience, she has held positions at the New Museum of Contemporary Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Seattle Art Museum. She currently serves as scholar-in-residence at the Trisha Brown Dance Company, and in fall 2016 was a Fellow in the ART & LAW program, New York.
Rosenberg’s most recent book, Trisha Brown: Choreography as Visual Art (Wesleyan University Press) received the CAA’s summer 2015 Meiss/Mellon Author’s Book Award. Her writings have appeared in numerous international academic journals and museum catalogues, among them October, TDR, and most recently: Nancy Graves Projects, (Ludwig Kunstforum, Aachen German); Minimalisms: 1960s-1980s (Centre Pompidou, Paris); and the anthology Spacescapes: Dance & drawing (Zurich: JRP-Ringier).
Amy Gansell, Ph.D., earned a doctorate in ancient Near Eastern art from Harvard University. Following an internship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, she worked on the Royal Tombs of Ur traveling exhibition at Harvard Art Museums, later contributing entries to Harvard’s Byzantine Women exhibition catalogue and ancient bronze catalogue. From 2008 to 2010 she served at the US Department of State as the associate coordinator for Iraqi and Afghan cultural heritage, working on projects to restore and build professional capacity at the Afghan National Museum, the National Museum of Iraq, and the site of Babylon in Iraq. She gained substantial archaeological experience at sites in the US, France, Tunisia, Crete, Syria, and Turkey, where she was head registrar at the site of Tell Atchana.
Previously a postdoctoral fellow at Emory University’s Bill and Carol Fox Center for Humanistic Inquiry, Dr. Gansell has been rewarded with grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and The American Academic Research Institute in Iraq. Her scholarly essays have appeared in prestigious international journals including the Cambridge Archaeological Journal and the Journal of Archaeological Science. Currently, she is writing a book on the beauty and material culture of ancient Mesopotamian queens.
Graduate Assistantships
You may apply for graduate assistantships throughout the University. These positions offer tuition remission and, typically, a stipend. You can find more information about graduate assistantships on the Graduate Assistantships and Fellowships page.
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