Museum Studies & Historical Preservation

Objective

The Morgan State University Master of Arts Degree in Museum Studies and Historical Preservation is an interdisciplinary graduate program within the College of Liberal Arts. The courses and faculty are interdepartmental. Through theoretical (curriculum-based) and practical (hands-on) training, students are prepared for a wide range of positions in varying types of museums, as well as gaining an understanding of historic resources and the processes necessary for their preservation.

GOALS

0. Produce professionally trained museum staff in the areas of museum management, museum education, collection management, exhibition design, conservation, curatorship, and the methods of archiving and historical preservation.
0. To increase the number of museum professionals with formal training at the graduate level.

Admission

Admission to the program is open to individuals holding a bachelor’s degree in any art, history, education or management related discipline or to those who have earned a bachelor’s in an unrelated field, but are currently pursuing museum or historical preservation careers.  In addition to meeting admission requirements of the School of Graduate Studies, applicants must also have earned a minimum undergraduate academic grade point average of 3.0 in their major area of study.  For conditional admission, applicants must have earned a minimum undergraduate average of 2.5 in their major area of study.

General Requirements

To satisfy the requirements for the degree students must pursue 33 credits consisting of  twelve (12) credit hours of the Core Requirements, nine (9) credit hours in the Concentration area, and (9) credit hours of the approved Electives.

Thesis/Project

Students are required to submit a thesis or project proposal for approval by the Program Coordinator.  Student must successfully complete the thesis/project in order to receive the Masters Degree in Museum Studies and Historical Preservation.   Students are required to select a thesis/project committee consisting of the Program Coordinator and two readers.  One reader can be an external committee member and must be approved by the Program Coordinator. 

Masters thesis/project students must complete a three (3) credit hours thesis seminar course and a two (2) credit hours thesis guidance course.  Until a thesis/project is submitted and approved, students must enroll in thesis guidance every semester after successfully completing the thesis seminar course.

Common Core Curriculum

Introduction to Museum Studies (3)	MUSE 520
Theories of Museum Studies (3)	MUSE 521
Principles of Preventive Conservation (3)	MUSE 600
Internship (3)	MUSE 522
Thesis Seminar (3)	MUSE 799
*Thesis Guidance(2)	MUSE 797

*Note – Additional two (2) credits, if needed, will lead to student having thirty-five (35) credit hours

Concentrations

ADMINISTRATION Administrative Theory (3) Marketing Management (3) Organization Development (3)	BUAD 521 MKTG 567 BUAD 654
ART African American Art  (3) Traditional Arts of Africa (3) Art and World Civilizations (3)	ART 509 ART 510 ART 511
EDUCATION Modern Curriculum Strategies in Content Areas (3) Administration of Public Education Organizations (3) Practicum in Educational Administration & Supervision (3)	CUIN  563 EDAD 607 EDAD 798
HISTORY Historiography (3) Principals of Archival Theory (3) Oral History (3)	HIST 598 HIST 707 HIST 708

 

Other Program Requirements

Comprehensive Examination
Student must successfully complete the Departmental Comprehensive Examination.  The comprehensive examination will consist of six to nine questions with the student being required to answer three questions.  Students who do not successfully pass all areas of the graduate comprehensive examination are required to retake only those areas failed.

Internship
Students are required to complete at least one professional internship (where they will be supervised and evaluated by a site supervisor). 

It is also expected that students will become actively involved in at least one museum, history, art, education or administration professional association.