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Master of Arts in Museum and Exhibition Studies

The Art History Department of the University of Illinois at Chicago offers a Master of Arts in Museum and Exhibition Studies. We welcome applicants seeking a rigorous course of study integrating professional practice and scholarly research in an array of museum disciplines. Applications are accepted online through March 15, 2012.

Broadly interdisciplinary, the Program in Museum and Exhibition Studies at UIC integrates professional training and experience with the intensive study of the institutions and practices of exhibition-making and public engagement at museums of art, history, architecture, science, anthropology, and contemporary culture, among others. The program emphasizes the evolving social and cultural contexts of today's arts institutions, including museums and other platforms and contexts.

The academic curriculum in Museum and Exhibition Studies at UIC provides students with deep intellectual and scholarly training essential to professional careers in diverse positions: directors of institutions, curators, gallery directors, museum educators, exhibition developers, and professionals within the rapidly emerging spheres of digital information-sharing, for example.

The curriculum is designed to deepen students' understanding of the intellectual and practical tasks of museum work--engaging publics, curating exhibitions, interpreting objects and activities, harnessing new technologies to meet museum missions--and to help students improve their interpretive and critical writing.

Housed in UIC's graduate program in Art History, Museum and Exhibition Studies draws on the broad range of disciplines available at UIC, including anthropology, ethnic and gender studies, history, social work, and more. Close mentoring relationships with advisors and advisory faculty provide students with specialized training tailored to their needs and capabilities, while the broad range of faculty scholarship within and beyond the department provides the breadth only available at a major research university.

Full-time resident students are required to take five core courses, a supervised internship, fulfill six rotations (see below), and successfully complete a final capstone activity (thesis, exhibition, project, or other sanctioned capstone), for the two-year duration. Core courses focus on exhibition-making, collections, writing for exhibitions, audiences and public engagement, and museum genres, practices and history. See course descriptions below.

The program’s two anchor institutions at UIC also serve as active “teaching museums.” Students take part in rotations that delve into six fundamental components to the museum field: Exhibitions, Collections, Community Engagement, Communications, Development, and Evaluation. Rotations consist of research and hands-on opportunities at both the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum and Gallery 400.

Faculty in the program come from the UIC Art History department (among them Hannah Higgins, Peter Hales, Martha Pollak, Lisa Lee, and Lorelei Stewart) as well as professionals from Chicago's world class museums.

In the program’s first year, guest lecturers have included Ethan Lasser (Chipstone Foundation, Milwaukee Art Museum), Sarah Pharaon (International Coalition of Sites of Conscience), John Ronan (John Ronan Architects), Rhoda Rosen (Northwestern University and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago), Stephanie Smith (The Smart Museum at the University of Chicago), Lisa Stone (Roger Brown Study Collection), Nato Thompson (Creative Time, NY), and Hamza Walker (The Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago). Students have visited the Art Institute of Chicago, Milwaukee Art Museum, The Renaissance Society, Roger Brown Study Collection, and the collections of some of Chicago’s most prominent collectors.

Contact:
Lorelei Stewart
Director, Gallery 400 and Interim Director Museum and Exhibition Studies
312-355-4850 | lorelei@uic.edu

Admission Requirements

Applicants are considered on an individual basis. In addition to the Graduate College minimum requirements, applicants must meet the following program requirements:

  • Baccalaureate Field: No restrictions.
  • Grade Point Average: At least 3.00 (A=4.00) for the final 60 semester hours (90 quarter hours) of undergraduate study.
  • Tests Required: GRE general.
  • Minimum English Competency Test Score
    • TOEFL 650 (paper-based); 280 (computer based); 95, with subscores of Reading 24, Listening 24, Speaking 24, and Writing 22 (iBT Internet-based), OR
    • IELTS 7.0, with subscores of 6.5 for all four subscores
  • Letters of Recommendation: Three required from faculty members or others familiar with the applicant's training, ability, and experience. Please have recommenders download and attach the Graduate College Recommendation Form to their letter.
  • Personal Statement: Applicants must submit a short statement of purpose.
  • Writing Sample: Applicants must submit a sample of their written work. An exhibition review is preferred.
  • How to Apply: To request an application or apply online, visit the UIC Admissions Website or call (312) 413-2550
  • Graduate Application Checklist.
  • Contact Information.

Application Deadlines

Fall Admission: March 15.

Degree Requirements

In addition to the Graduate College minimum requirements, students must meet the following program requirements:

  • Minimum Semester Hours Required 51
  • Required Courses: AH 532, 542, 543, 544, 545, 582 (total of 23 hours)
  • Elective Courses: 20 hours, chosen in consultation with a faculty adviser.
  • Comprehensive Examination Not required.
  • Thesis, Project, or Course-Work-Only Options: students may choose one of the following:
    • Thesis: Must take at least 8 hours in thesis research (AH 598). No more than 8 hours of AH 598 can be applied toward the degree.
    • Project: Must take at least 8 hours of project (AH 597). No more than 8 hours of AH 597 can be applied toward the degree.

Required Course Descriptions:

AH 532 Museum and Exhibition Studies Workshop
3 hours. Practical, theoretical and institutional settings of the museum and exhibition professions. Students meet in seminar environments, read and discuss core texts and ideas; travel to representative exhibition and cultural heritage sites. Extensive computer use required. Field trip required at a nominal fee. Field work required. Prerequisite(s): Approval of the department.

AH 542 Material and Display Practices for Exhibitions
4 hours. Core course in material and display practices. Exposure to the mechanics of preparing exhibitions in physical and virtual environment; exhibition planning, design, management and marketing. Prerequisite(s): Approval of the department.

AH 543 Writing for Exhibitions
4 hours. Practicum in producing texts for sites across physical and virtual museum and exhibition environments, from labels to exhibition catalogs. Includes digital and virtual exhibition venues. Extensive computer use required. Prerequisite(s): Approval of the department.

AH 544 Methods and Approaches to Creating Public Interaction in Museum Studies
4 hours. Development of methods of audience and public interaction with exhibiting institutions and forms. Includes practicum in publicity, promotion, audience-development assessment. Prerequisite(s): Approval of the department.

AH 545 Museum Genres, Practices and Institution
4 hours. History of museums, cultural heritage sites, other sites of preservation and exhibition; includes discussion of contemporary sites of virtual display. Field trips to multiple cultural sites in Chicago area. Extensive computer use required. Field work required. Prerequisite(s): Approval of the department.

AH 582 Supervised Internship in Museum and Exhibition Studies
4 hours. Practical supervised experience in institutions and organizations appropriate to the student's area of study. Placements in museums; community arts centers; college, commercial, or non-traditional galleries; public agencies, and commercial and not-for profit sites. Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory grading only. Prerequisite(s): Approval of the department.

Capstone:

AH 597 Project Research
0 to 8 Hours. Capstone project appropriate to area of study, developed in consultation with graduate advisor. Projects may cover areas of visual exhibition, or professional practice that fall outside traditional boundaries of scholarly research: website design; organizational management projects; festivals; collaborations arranged among different institutions, and the like. May be repeated to a maximum of 8 hours. Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory grading only. Prerequisite(s): Approval of the department.

AH 598 Master's Thesis Research
0 TO 8 hours. Individual research under faculty direction. Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory grading only. May be repeated to a maximum of 8 hours. Prerequisite(s): Consent of the instructor.

About the Capstone projects and Internships:
Specific capstone projects will be the result of the student's course of training, interest, and experience. Some possible projects are:

  • develop and mount an exhibition at the site of internship or at an appropriate venue
  • assemble and edit a published (or web-site located) catalog to an exhibition or collection
  • develop a portfolio of professional critical writing appropriate to an art journal or other art criticism venue
  • develop a website for an existing "bricks-and-mortar" institution
  • adapt an existing database software engine to track all aspects of an exhibition's progress- location of artworks, insurance value, shipping methods, agreements with lenders, specifications for exhibition, previous exhibition histories for exhibition objects, etc.
  • develop a business model for serving as an artist's agent using new media and presentation forms.

The goal of these capstone activities is threefold: to synthesize the student's program of learning; to move from student to professional status; and to provide a sample of work immediately useful in the search for post-graduate employment.

Summer internships will be coordinated with faculty and advisors. Former UIC Art History student have held internships at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Contemporary Art, The Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust. Other sites might include, for example, DuSable Museum of African American History, Chicago History Museum, The Museum of Science and Industry, the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians; a webdesign company, among the many cultural institutions in the Chicago region. Internships may also be coordinated in other cities and countries.