Each spring, the Museum Studies Program hosts a Visiting Scholar – a leading museum practitioner or researcher – who spends a week on our campus interacting with students, faculty, and the local and regional museum community. While at U-M, the MSP Visiting Scholar teaches a session of our graduate proseminar course, meets with student teams to discuss their capstone projects, and schedules one-on-one meetings with interested students and faculty. The Visiting Scholar also presents an evening public lecture and leads a morning workshop of students, faculty, and local museum professionals. Often, one day of the visit is devoted to visiting regional and campus museums and conversations with a broad array of local museum professionals.
The MSP Visiting Scholar Program brings internationally renowned museum practitioners and innovative thinkers to our campus. Their presence serves as a galvanizing force among the local museum communities on topics of shared interest, assures challenging and exciting discussions in our proseminar, offers expert professional support to our student work, and allows for exciting one-on-one interactions with students, faculty, and museum professionals.
We acknowledge our visiting scholars for the energy, intellectual excitement, and rich knowledge and experience they have brought to our program:
| Year | Visiting Scholar |
|---|---|
| 2018 | Steven Lubar, Professor of American Studies, History of Art, Architecture, and History, Brown University |
| 2017 | Graham Beal, Director Emeritus, Detroit Institute of Arts |
| 2016 | Randi Korn, Founding Director, Randi Korn & Associates |
| 2015 | Lonnie G. Bunch, III, Founding Director, National Museum of African American History and Culture (Smithsonian Institution) |
| 2014 | Elaine Heumann Gurian, Museum Consultant, Advisor, and Author |
| 2013 | Ruth Phillips, Carleton University, Ottawa |
| 2012 | Mark O’Neill, Glasgow Life |
| 2011 | Andrew McClellan, Tufts University |
| 2010 | Ivan Karp, Emory University |
| 2009 | Sharon Macdonald, University of Manchester |
| 2008 | Harold Skramstad, President Emeritus, Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village |
| 2007 | Elaine Heumann Gurian, Museum Consultant, Advisor, and Author |