Director's Welcome

Tufts' Museum Studies program enables students to pursue their passion for museum work through explorations of trends, issues, standards and ethics, and new strategies in the museum field.

When I took my first museum job, we mostly learned by the seat of our pants, or under the tutelage of a more experienced employee. Now museum professionals need to know about universal access and anti-ableism, outcome-based planning, and shared authority and co-curation. They need to understand decolonization, repatriation, critical race theory and what decentering Whiteness looks like.

These days, museums define their value by how they contribute to society, rather than by the quality of their collections. Museum professionals are recognizing there are many points of view, many lenses through which to understand ideas and care for objects. Sensitivity to multiple perspectives comes from exposure to ideas from different disciplines and different types of museums.

After more than two decades of working in and with museums, what I find most invigorating about the Tufts Museum Studies program is students’ energy and passion for transforming museums.