March 07, 2013

The Westphal College is now offering a new Master of Science degree in Museum Leadership and is accepting applications for its inaugural class for the fall of 2013. We designed the curriculum to prepare leaders for museums of the future. Leaders who will be capable of managing large complex organizations, who are entrepreneurial and responsive to the needs of diverse communities, and who are savvy about technology for marketing, management and exhibition design.  Students will be prepared for careers in a wide array of museums including science, history, and cultural museums, as well as historical houses and sites, and living collections such as zoos, arboreta and aquariums. The interdisciplinary curriculum was created in collaboration with faculty from Drexel's School of Information Sciences and Technology, School of Education, and the College of Arts and Sciences, as well as colleagues from the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, which will serve as a learning laboratory for students, along with other area museums.

On Friday, March 15, 2013, prominent leaders in the field will come together on Drexel’s campus to discuss key issues facing directors and trustees in building, maintaining, and sustaining museums in the twenty-first century. Ford Bell, President and CEO of the American Alliance of Museums, will speak about “Museum Governance”; Camille Akeju, director of the Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum in Washington, DC, will address “Museums of Ethnic Identity”; and Dr. Julian Siggers, director of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, will speak on “Museums and Financial Sustainability.” You can register for this free conference here.

The new Museum Leadership program is specifically designed to meet the needs of museum professionals who want to advance their careers. The MS in Museum Leadership is a 45-credit, hybrid program with on-campus, online, and practicum course work. For more information about the program contact David Miller, Director of Recruitment, at 215-895-1675 or by email at davidmiller@drexel.edu.