PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Saint Joseph’s University and the Barnes Foundation have a new online graduate program designed to prepare future museum educators for roles in public and private institutions.
The Master of Arts in Museum Education graduate program starts this fall.
Joshua Power, dean of the School of Education and Human Development at the university, says the idea came after a series of meetings with the Barnes Foundation.
“They believed that there was a gap in offerings and felt like St. Joe's was a perfect partner,” Power said, “for us at St. Joe's, we're always looking to expand our offerings, to be more responsive to the needs of the community.”
The program teaches students how to share knowledge with the public in an engaging and inclusive way, including strategies for teaching about objects and collections applicable to any museum.
Martha Lucy, deputy director for research, interpretation and education at the Barnes Foundation, says there’s a healthy demand for educators in the museum field.
“It has been a rough couple of years for museums recovering from the pandemic and building back up, but the general trend shows the museum education field as one that is continually growing,” Lucy said.
The online course will use the Barnes Foundation’s state-of-the-art Visual Experience Platform, designed specifically for the study of visual material. An internship with 35 hours of fieldwork is required for the degree.
Students who don’t wish to achieve a full master’s degree can opt for the Museum Education Certificate.
“Museum education is our whole reason for being, going back 100 years, and we're known for it, and it just makes a lot of sense to partner and to help shape the next generation of educators,” Lucy said.