By Alicia Method, Staff Writer
The Art and Art History Department recently announced a brand new major track: Art History and Museum Studies. According to the track’s description, this track is designed for students who “want to develop professional experience related to museum work or are just interested in the powerful stories behind works of art and material culture.”
The track includes opportunities to work onsite at museums such as the National Gallery of Art and the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Students can also become more involved with on-campus locations like Special Collections in Musselman Library and Gettysburg’s Schmucker Art gallery. Art History students can pursue internships and curatorial experiences by working at these locations.
Prospective students can incorporate archaeology, anthropology, public history, English and East Asian Studies into their degree experience.
Professor of Art History Felicia Else discussed the department’s inspiration and efforts connected to the new track.
“[The department] took note of an increasing number of students outside our department interested in museum work who were taking our courses but had been able to declare in our major and minor,” said Else.
After external reviewers and parents at Get Acquainted Day showed surprise at the lack of a Museum Studies program, Else said that the department knew they needed to address this need.
“We’ve just been so impressed with the success and placement of our students into museum and gallery-related fields, both graduate programs and jobs,” Else said. “We know we must be doing something right and we’d like to enhance this aspect of our major even more by having a track specially dedicated to this.”
Else also stressed that the track is not just for students who consider themselves “artsy.”
“We don’t require any Studio courses, and the skills we teach–visual analysis, writing, research, public presentation, the ins and outs of putting on a show–can be applied to all types of fields,” Else shared.
