Director's Welcome

Tufts’ Museum Studies program enables students to make significant contributions to museums and, through those museums, to their communities and the world.

We think broadly about the whole field: our students and alumni work in museums dedicated to art, history, and science, as well as in aquaria, botanical gardens, and natural history museums. They are curators and educators, fundraisers and administrators, programming and events managers, translators and facilitators, and a myriad of other roles that keep our crucial cultural heritage institutions moving forward. 

Tufts is one of the most interdisciplinary Museum Studies programs available, combining students from the History of Art and Architecture, Education, History, and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. We create supportive and collaborative learning environments that give students both philosophical grounding and practical skills. Our classes are hands-on, nuanced, and academically rigorous. They span the range of museum work and address contemporary civic and societal concerns. Our faculty are working museum professionals, so our students learn directly from the leaders in the field. Our alumni provide a rich network of professionals across New England and beyond. 

Museums now define their value by how they contribute to society, not simply the quality or size of their collections. We train our students to help make that happen.