Museum Studies and Historical Preservation, M.A.

Print Degree Planner (opens a new window) |

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:

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.
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 Coursework

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.

Master’s 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

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

Note

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

Concentrations

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.