2005-2006

Brown Bags

The Sindecuse Museum of Dentistry

Thursday, November 17, 2005

Presented by Shannon O’Dell, Curator, The Gordon H. Sindecuse Museum of Dentistry

A Museum for Three Roles: (Dis)connecting the Collection to the Community

Thursday, December 8, 2005

Presented by Ipek Kaynar Rohloff, PhD Candidate, Architecture and Museum Studies

About Ipek Kaynar Rohloff

Ipek Kaynar Rohloff recently earned a Certificate in Museum Studies and a Ph.D. in Architecture at the University of Michigan. She teaches at the Boston Architecture College and the Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston, MA. She also applies her insight and experience as part of her consulting practice (www.kaynar-rohloff.com) with museums and architecture design firms. Dr. Rohloff regularly publishes and speaks at architectural and space-planning conferences.

Developing a Musical and Cultural Inheritance

Thursday, December 1, 2005

Presented by Joseph Lam, Chair of Musicology, School of Music; Director, Stearns Collection of Musical Instruments

Sea of Genes: The Art of Exhibit Conceptualization

Friday, September 23, 2005

Presented by Jennifer Zee, MFA, Art & Design

Building Connections: Architecture, Audience, and Object at the Cranbrook Art Museum

Friday, October 21, 2005

Presented by Deirdre Hennebury, PhD, Architecture

About Deirdre Hennebury

University of Michigan where she is also pursuing a Masters in Urban Planning and has fulfilled the requirements for the Certificate in Museum Studies. In addition to her studies, Hennebury has taught in Architecture, Art History and Communication Studies and interned at Cranbrook Art Museum where she co-curated their 2005-06 exhibition, Building Connections: Architectural Dialogues with the collection of Cranbrook Art Museum. Hennebury’s dissertation looks at the Tate Gallery from its origins in the late 19th century through to contemporary developments.

Engagement and the French Museum: From Oradour sur Glane to the Maisons Satie

Thursday, March 9, 2006

Presented by Bradley L. Taylor, Associate Director of the Museum Studies Program at the University of Michigan

About Bradley L. Taylor

Bradley L. Taylor is the Associate Director of the Museum Studies Program at the University of Michigan. His degrees include advanced work in both museum studies and information and library studies at the University of Michigan, where his doctoral research received “Dissertation of the Year” recognition from the Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE). He has published several articles on the effect of surrogation on the affective response to objects in museum settings. His current research addresses the role of the museum in the society; to this end, he is completing an article on Detroit’s Heidelberg Project and the role of the artist/curator in the community. Taylor teaches in the graduate proseminar for the Museum Studies Program and was recently instrumental in the development of a new undergraduate minor in museum studies at UM.

PURfecting the Public Understanding of Research

Thursday, March 30, 2006

Presented by Shannon Davis, Post Doc, Biology

Interactive Development: The Beginning Stages of a New Exhibit at the Experience Music Project, Seattle

Thursday, January 19, 2006

Presented by Diana Mankowski, PhD, History

The Future of Classical Weimar: Politics and Progress in German Cultural Heritage

Friday, February 3, 2006

Presented by Michael Andre, PhD Candidate, Germanic Languages and Literature and Museum Studies

I Think The Walls Are Too Dark: Foreign Involvement in the Management of the Institute of Ethiopian Studies Ethnographic Museum

Friday, February 17, 2006

Presented by Leah Niederstadt, PhD, Anthropology

Conferences and Symposia

Behind the Magic: The Influence and Impact of Walt Disney and Disneyland

Welcome and Introduction

Friday, November 11, 2005

Presented by Steven K. Hamp, President, The Henry Ford

500,000,000 People in an Orange Grove: The Disneyland Story

Friday, November 11, 2005

Presented by Marty Sklar, Vice-Chairman and Principal Creative Executive, Walt Disney Imagineering

What Inspired Walt?

Friday, November 11, 2005

Presented by Donna Braden, Lead Experience Developer, The Henry Ford

Lessons from Disneyland: The Experience of Place in People’s Everyday Urban Environments

Friday, November 11, 2005

Presented by Linda N. Groat, Professor, College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Michigan

Myth, Memory, and Magic: What Does Disneyland Mean?

Friday, November 11, 2005

Presented by Karal Ann Marling, Professor of Art History and American Studies, University of Minnesota

An Introduction and Tour of the Exhibition

Friday, November 11, 2005

Presented by Scott Mallwitz, Director, Experience Design, The Henry Ford

About Scott Mallwitz

Scott Mallwitz has over 20 years of involvement in experience design. His extensive background within the entertainment industry includes transforming strategic planning into engaging visitor experiences for an impressive array of clients such as LEGO Global Family Attractions, Walt Disney Imagineering, Warner Brothers, Frito-Lay and Coca-Cola. Recently, Mr. Mallwiz served as Director, Experience Design at The Henry Ford in Dearborn, Michigan. He was responsible for overseeing the master planning efforts of the entire 214-acre complex, including the 11-acre Henry Ford Museum, the Greenfield Village restoration project and reopening of the Ford Rouge Factory Tour. Previously, he served as a key member of the Six Flags Theme Parks “transformation” team, converting a family of regional theme parks into a nationally recognized entertaiment brand. Mr. Mallwitz received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Center for Creative Studies in Detroit, Michigan.

From Mickey Mouse to Tomorrow . . . the Evolution of Disney Theme Park Storytelling

Friday, November 11, 2005

Presented by Tom Fitzgerald, Senior Vice-President Creative Development, Walt Disney Imagineering

Concluding Panel Discussion with Participants

Friday, November 11, 2005

Museums and Community

The Public Museum of Grand Rapids as Community History: Backward into the Future

Tuesday, November 8, 2005

Presented by Timothy J. Chester, Director and CEO, Public Museum of Grand Rapids

When John Ball and his fellow citizens began the Public Museum of Grand Rapids in 1854, they informally set in place some founding principles that continue to define the museum, which provide direction to the present day. Core among these is the idea that the Public Museum is an educational institution dedicated to life long informal learning for everyone ¾ from children to elders. The Public Museum is oriented toward its utility for our citizens and visitors, is publicly responsive, and is useful, practical and even necessary for a healthy community.

Focused on collecting material culture, artifacts of local history and noteworthy natural history and scientific specimens, the Public Museum has also consistently relied on a rich base of scientific, ethnographic, anthropological and historical resources as tools of insight and inquiry to be used in the pursuit of knowledge. These collections did not originate with the passion of a few, but instead have been assembled with the active participation of thousands of individual donors who felt compelled to save our region’s patrimony for the benefit of future generations. Now, in a period of great financial uncertainty, the museum’s role as collective history and longstanding community service agent may, by necessity, be redefined. To what extent might these formidable challenges change the unique relationship that exists between the museum and city, one which has sustained them both for over 100 years?

Ethnic Museums: Voices of the Disenfranchised

Thursday, September 22, 2005

Anan Ameri, Director of the Arab American National Museum (Dearborn, MI) presenting in the lecture series, Museums and Community, Fall 2005.

Ethnic museums, built throughout the nation at an increasing rate, are for the most part a response by ethnic minorities to their perception of exclusion from mainstream museums. “Our stories have not been told, or are often told with malice. We want to tell our own stories.” But no ethnic community can speak with one voice, has one perspective, or has one vision.

For more than eight months, the staff of the Arab American National Museum traveled to every city in the U.S. with a sizable Arab American community to conduct field research, collect artifacts and talk to the community. Through numerous community meetings and focus groups, the Museum staff (with the help of scholars, museum experts, and exhibit designers), was able to synthesize the vision(s), concepts, and themes born out of these meetings, and incorporate them in the Museum’s structure, exhibits and public programming. Dr. Ameri will discuss the challenge in addressing the needs of multiple constituencies in the presentation of “community” and how the Arab American National Museum has been received by that community since it opened in May.

Conscience, Controversy, and Community: Case Studies from the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History

Thursday, October 20, 2005

Christy S. Coleman, Director of the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History (Detroit, MI) presenting in the lecture series, Museums and Community, Fall 2005.

Celebrating 40 years of service to the Detroit Metropolitan area, the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History has evolved into an institution that balances the diverse needs of its base audience while gaining broader support across racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic lines. Achieving this balance has not been an easy transition. In fact, throughout its early history the organization struggled with fundamental questions about its mission and audience. Ms. Coleman shares insights on these topics and the choices the organization made that have positioned it as an emerging leader in the museum field.

Organized by the U-M Museum Studies Program and co-sponsored by the Center for Afroamerican and African Studies.

Conversations about . . .

Conversations about . . . museums and community

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Elaine Gurian, Senior Museum Consultant, and UM Professor of History of Art and Director of the Museum Studies Program, Raymond Silverman, engage in a conversation about museums and community, Winter 2006.

Our featured guest, Senior Museum Consultant, Elaine Heumann Gurian, is one of the museum profession’s most innovative thinkers, a person who has brought a great deal of critical and creative thinking to the practice of working in museums, one of a few visionaries in the field who occasionally steps back and writes on big issues concerning the museum and its role in society. As an independent consultant-advisor, Elaine Heumann Gurian has worked with many museums in a career now entering its fourth decade. Recent clients include the National Museum of the American Indian and the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution, Mystic Seaport, the Barnes Foundation, and the National Archives of Guatemala. She is also well known as first Deputy Director and Chief Operating Officer of the United States Holocaust Museum.

Elaine Heumann Gurian will be interviewed by Dr. Raymond A. Silverman, Director of the University of Michigan Museum Studies Program. Dr. Silverman also holds appointments as Professor in the Department of the History of Art and in the Center for African and Afro-American Studies at the University of Michigan.

This event is co-sponsored by the University of Michigan Museum Studies program and the Office of the Dean of the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

About Raymond Silverman

In 2002, Raymond Silverman joined the faculty at the University of Michigan where he is Professor of History of Art and Afroamerican & African Studies, and serves as Director of the Museum Studies Program. Silverman’s research and writing has examined a variety of subjects concerning the movement of material/visual tradition through time and space in Africa, particularly in Ghana and Ethiopia. Most recently he has been exploring “museum culture” in Africa, specifically how local knowledge is translated in national and community-based cultural institutions. In addition to teaching courses in African art history and museum studies, he has curated a number of exhibitions dealing with various aspects of African visual culture.

Conversations . . . about museums and civic engagement

Thursday, March 9, 2006

Liz Sevcenko, Director of the International Coalition of Historic Sties of Conscience, and UM Professor of American Culture, Julie Ellison, engage in a conversation about museums and civic engagement, Winter 2006.

Our featured guest, Liz Sevcenko, is the Director of the International Coalition of Historic Site Museums of Conscience, “a world-wide network of organizations and individuals dedicated to teaching and learning how historic sites and museums can inspire social consciousness and action.” Liz Sevcenko is well known to local audiences from her role as a principal organizer and featured speaker at “Activating the Past: An International Symposium on Sites of Conscience,” held at the University of Michigan in 2003, and as Keynote Speaker at the 2004 Michigan Museums Association annual meeting. Additional credentials include a five-year tenure as Vice President for Interpretation at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum in New York and affiliations with the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, the Museum of the City of New York, the! Eldridge Street Project, and the American History Workshop.

Liz Sevcenko will be interviewed by Dr. Julie Ellison, Professor of American Culture and Director of Imagining America: Artists and Scholars in Public Life, University of Michigan. Imagining America is a national consortium of 70 colleges and universities that fosters the public role of the arts, humanities, and design through building new coalitions and working for structural change in higher education.

This event is co-sponsored by the University of Michigan Museum Studies program and the Office of the Dean of the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Conversations . . . about museums and botanical gardens

Thursday, March 30, 2006

Michel Labrecque, Curator, Montreal Botanical Garden, and UM Curator and Research Scientist, David Michener engage in a conversation about the role of botanical gardens in contemporary society, Winter 2006.

Our featured guest, Michel Labrecque, has been Curator and Head of the Department of Research and Scientific Development at the Montreal Botanical Garden since 1997. A specialist in plant ecophysiology, Michel Labrecque has conducted a number of projects in urban forestry and on the production of woody biomass using fast growing species. In more recent work, Labrecque served as one of the leaders of a multidisciplinary project which examined the use of a diversity of plants to assist in the decontamination of brownfield soil in urban Montreal. In addition to his work in Montreal, he has additional affiliations with the Societe de l’Arbre de Q and the American Public Gardens Association.

Michel Labrecque will be interviewed by Dr. David Michener, Assistant Curator, Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum, University of Michigan. Dr. Michener also serves as an Adjunct Professor at the School of Natural Resources and Environment at the University of Michigan and is a member of the University of Michigan Museum Studies Program Steering Committee.

This event is co-sponsored by the University of Michigan Museum Studies program, the Matthaei Botanical Gardens, the Nichols Arboretum, and the Office of the Dean of the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts.

Conversations . . . about museums and science

Thursday, January 26, 2006

Rob Semper, Executive Director of the Exploratorium (San Francisco, CA) and UM Professor of Physics, Timothy McKay, engage in a conversation about the presentation of science in today’s museum, Winter 2006.

Our featured guest, Dr. Rob Semper, a physicist and science educator, is Executive Associate Director of the Exploratorium, and is responsible for leading the institution’s work in developing programs of teaching and learning using exhibits, media and Internet resources. He is head of the Exploratorium’s Center for Learning and Teaching which contains the institution’s programs in teacher professional development, youth programming, publishing, media and Internet development. Dr. Semper is the principle investigator on numerous science education, media and research projects including leading the National Science Foundation sponsored Center for Informal Learning and Schools, a research collaboration between the Exploratorium, U.C. Santa Cruz and King’s College, London which studies the relationship between museums and formal education. He is also Co-PI on the NSF funded Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network, a national network of science centers designed to foster engagement of the public with the nanotechnology field. He leads numerous research and development projects in new media including wireless networks, handheld computing and advanced Internet applications.

Rob Semper will be interviewed by Dr. Timothy McKay, Associate Professor of Physics and Associate Chair for Undergraduate Education, University of Michigan. Dr. McKay is also well known to many for his role in the popular “Saturday Morning Physics” series.

This event is co-sponsored by the University of Michigan Museum Studies Program, The Exhibit Museum of Natural History, and the Office of the Dean of the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts.

Lectures

Issues in Museum Studies

The West African Museums Programme: Its Role in the Development of Museums in Africa

Thursday, December 8, 2005

Presented by Boureima Diamatani, Director, West African Museums Programme

The West African Museums Programme (WAMP) is a regional non-governmental organization that assists in building institutional capacities and providing services to museums and related institutions throughout West Africa. Since its inception in 1982, WAMP has efficiently and effectively promoted museum development in West Africa. It currently collaborates with over 200 museums and cultural institutions. This presentation will consider the history of WAMP and the impact it has had on the museum profession in West Africa. It also will review WAMP’s recently completed strategic plan for 2006-2010″”a plan focused on the development of community based museums and strategies for the preservation of intangible heritage.

Co-sponsored by the Center for Afroamerican and African Studies.

Revisiting the Congo’s Colonial Past: A Curator’s Thoughts on the Belgian “Memory of Congo” Exhibit

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Presented by Johan Lagae, University of Ghent, Belgium

The Guardian in the summer of 2002 and entitled “Belgium Exhumes Its Colonial Demons,” immediately defined a clear set of expectations. In fact, ever since the publication of Adam Hochschild’s 1998 book Leopold II’s Ghost. A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Central Africa and Raoul Peck’s 2000 biopic Lumumba, Belgian colonization in the Congo has become regarded internationally as one of the most controversial episodes in 20th century colonialism.

This lecture will present a personal reflection of one of the curators of this exhibition, which was entitled “Memory of Congo: The Colonial Era.” It will address how this exhibition was, to phrase Ivan Karp and Steven Lavine, a highly “contested terrain,” posing a particular challenge for the curators in finding a balance between historiographical considerations on the one hand and a sound museological solution on the other. Indeed, the key question was how to mount an exhibition that would remain accessible and attractive to a broad target audience while portraying Belgium’s colonial past in a nuanced way by bringing to the fore a multitude of actors, both colonizers and colonized, and the complexity of their agencies. By discussing the overall structure and focusing more in detail on some sections, such as the one on racial segregation, it will illustrate how the exhibition or! ganizers who worked under the supervision of historian Jean-Luc Vellut deliberately aimed at raising questions and blurring preconceived notions in order to present a multilayered representation of Congo’s colonial past rather than a “balance sheet” of Belgian colonization. How successful the exhibition was in conveying its intended messages will be critically measured by drawing excerpts from the extensive press coverage, both national and international.

This event is co-sponsored by the African History Group.