Shin Yu Pai is an artist, poet, community builder, mother, professional, and so much more. She came to Seattle to study Sociocultural Anthropology with a background in various arts. While studying anthropology, she enrolled in museology classes because of her interest and experience working with museums and arts nonprofits, and quickly realized that her passions lay within the Museology program. Shin Yu came to the Museology program because of the mentorship she could receive from the faculty. “I chose…
Category: Blog
Museums & Technology: First Steps Forward
It’s the hottest of hot-button topics in the museum field. Some professionals have long been involved in its evolution, while others are only just trying to comprehend how technology can be integrated into their museums and museum practice. This Fall Quarter, Museology offered a new course that introduced students to this growing field – MUS.588 Museums & Technology: What’s Now, What’s Next. The goal was to provide students with broad insights on topics such as technology’s influences on audience experience, learning…
Museology Internship Fair 2017
Last Friday was Museology’s annual Internship Fair, where local museums and cultural organizations came together to chat with our students about internships, projects, and initiatives at their institutions. It was also a chance for students to connect with local museum professionals and get to know a little more about the organizations in our region. We had a huge showing of support from our local community of museums, with representatives from 32 institutions. It seemed like every cross-section of our field…
Exhibit Installation at The Center for Wooden Boats
–Samuel Howes, Museology class of 2019 The morning air was chill, and with hot coffee in hand, I looked over the docks at The Center for Wooden Boats (CWB). A few dinghies and keelboats were tied up and covered with canvas, lines creaking audibly as water lapped against the hulls. My work boots thudded across the gangplank, breaking up the morning’s stillness. I was volunteering for the day to help install the Still Afloat: Historic Small Craft of King County…
Orientation Reflections: Welcoming the Class of 2019
While orientation marks the end of my summer, it is a time I look forward to, when I have the opportunity to get to know our incoming cohort of students, beyond just an application, a few emails, and maybe a brief visit. This group represents a range of interests, experience, and goals – with 35 students hailing from 18 states, holding degrees in 21 different majors, and interests in all aspects of the museum field. Yet beyond their individual personalities,…
A Meandering Journey: Looking Back at My Graduate School Experience
Author: Marina Mayne, Class of 2017 When I started graduate school, I wasn’t sure exactly how everything would come together but I thought I knew exactly where I wanted to end up. I had worked in collections management positions in undergrad, spent time working in museums before graduate school, and completed an undergraduate minor in museum studies at the University of Michigan. I was on a path and ready to explore all the opportunities in the UW program and Seattle…
Congratulations, Class of 2017!
On June 9, friends, family, faculty, instructors, supervisors, and supporters of Museology’s graduates gathered at the University of Washington for the Class of 2017’s Graduation Ceremony to celebrate all that this cohort has accomplished during their two years at UW. As Jessica Luke, Program Director, pointed out during the graduation ceremony, the numbers behind this group are impressive. Collectively, this cohort has been active across many domains: 572 courses taken during their two years. 41 different institutions where they completed…
To Museums, and Beyond – Andrea Arenas (Alumni Spotlight)
Andrea Arenas didn’t realize just how much she would get out of the Museology program before starting graduate school. After graduating from the University of Florida with a double major in Geology and Anthropology, she interned at the Florida Museum of Natural History in registration and collections management. From here, it clicked. She loved being behind the scenes, fell in love with museums, and realized that this was her passion. She applied to graduate programs and decided to attend the…
Museology at AAM Annual Meeting
Museology students and alumni were out in full force at this year’s American Alliance of Museums (AAM) Annual Meeting in St. Louis, Missouri. AAM is a national professional organization for individuals working in museums, and their annual meeting is the largest gathering of museum professionals in the world, with over 4,200 attendees this year. The theme of this year’s conference was around diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion in museums, and the passion for this topic was palpable. While the scale…
Museology at Work – Work Study at the Burke Museum and Henry Art Gallery
The University of Washington is fortunate to have a few on-campus museums, which are incredible resources for our students. Not only do The Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture and the Henry Art Gallery offer free admission to all UW students, both museums offer a variety of work study positions, which give students paid opportunities to gain further experience working in a museum. Work Study is a Federal Student Aid program that partially funds part-time jobs for students with financial need as way to…