Administration
Increasingly, museum professionals have learned that they must learn business and administrative skills to survive and prosper in their field. This course introduces students to a wide range of administrative issues, including human resources, strategic planning, budgets, ethics, and board governance.
In the fall of 2009, the students in Museum Administration honed an array of skills that will be vital to their future careers as museum professionals. In addition to hearing lectures from individuals in a range of museum positions, students developed a strategic plan for the proposed "Center for Southern Garden History" at the Atlanta History Center, wrote a grant proposal for an upcoming exhibit, and composed marketing and staffing plans for various future projects. Upon completing each assignment, students were encouraged to present their work to their peers and veteran museum professionals for discussion and critique, enabling them to take advantage of a wealth of advice to enhance their final projects.
Fall 2003
The Museum Administration class in the fall of 2003 has tackled a variety of assignments, two of which involve new projects being developed at the Atlanta History Center--the Conner Brown Discovery Trail and the Hartrampf cabin. One assignment involved writing a plan for developing the project concept and the second required students to research funding sources at the Foundation Center and write a foundation proposal. In addition, students prepared three different staffing plans for the Williams-Mitchell farm.
.jpg "Museum Administration class, Atlanta History Center, Fall 2003")
Fall 2001
For the fall 2001 semester, graduate students (shown in the photograph below) developed a strategic plan and budget for a proposal project at the Atlanta History Center, attended a workshop at the Foundation Center and wrote a foundation proposal, and researched museum position descriptions.
