Program Overview

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Museum Studies Bachelor of Science Degree

Overview

The Museum Studies program at RIT is an interdisciplinary, technology-infused major that prepares students for careers in museums, archives, libraries, galleries, historical societies, and other cultural organizations.

Why Pursue a Museum Studies Degree at RIT?

• World-class Resources: RIT Collections on campus include RIT Archives, The Cary Graphic Arts Collection, The Dyer Art Center at NTID, and The Vignelli Center for Design Studies.
• Hands-On Experience: Gain real-world career experience in museums, archives, libraries, or special collections through a required internship experience.
• Develop Expertise in Digital Tools and Applications: Differentiate yourself from museum studies majors at other universities with a comprehensive knowledge of digital tools and a robust project-based portfolio.
• Top Employers: Recent graduates are employed by Genesee Country Village & Museum; The Strong, National Museum of Play; Buffalo AKG Art Museum; Smithsonian Institution; National Geographic; the National Archives; and a number of academic museums, art galleries, libraries, and archives.
• 3+3 Law Program: Accelerated 3+3 BS/JD programs with Syracuse University College of Law and University at Buffalo School of Law.
• Teaching Partnership Program Available: 4+1 or 3+2 programs enable you to earn your bachelor’s degree at RIT and a master’s degree in education at one of our partner universities.

What is Museum Studies?

Museums, archives, libraries, and other cultural institutions seek emerging professionals who can help develop and implement strategies to digitize, exhibit, manage, curate, and interpret their artistic, cultural, historical, and scientific collections and make them available to the public in interactive and engaging ways.

RIT’s Degree in Museum Studies

At RIT, museum studies is an interdisciplinary, technology-infused major that prepares you for careers in museums, archives, libraries, galleries, historical societies, and other cultural organizations.

Three principles guide our program and your academic experience:

• Tech-infused and collections-based curriculum, projects, and initiatives, making use of RIT’s resources from across campus, including the new makerspace in the SHED
• Collaboration across campus and in the community to highlight the interdisciplinary nature of museum work
• Equity-focused work that can take many forms, including foregrounding under-studied narratives from Rochester’s history and democratizing access to technology.

RIT's Museum Studies Courses

The museum studies major at RIT includes a set of introductory core courses to familiarize you with the history, theory, and practice of institutional collecting. These courses are bolstered by classes in exhibition development, education and interpretation, and multi-platform interpretation and design.

Collections, Exhibit Spaces, and Labs

RIT has long been a hub of creativity. See and experience it for yourself, tap into generations of inspiration, and use it as a springboard for your own.

• RIT Collections: RIT Archives collects and makes accessible physical and digital materials relating to the rich history of RIT, Deaf culture and history, artwork by RIT alumni, faculty, and students, and other special collections.
• The Cary Graphic Arts Collection is one of the world’s premier libraries on graphic communication history and practices, holding 45,000+ volumes and more than 130 archival collections.
• The Dyer Art Center at NTID houses several state-of-the-art galleries that showcase artworks created by current students, alumni, and artists who are nationally and internationally renowned.
• The Vignelli Center for Design Studies is a hub of research, education, and creative inspiration that houses more than 750,000 artifacts across all fields of design.

Jobs in Museums Studies

A career in museums, archives, libraries, other cultural institutions, or cognate fields awaits you! The good news is that the occupational outlook for archives and museums is very good, with a 12% growth predicted in the next decade, and the outlook for libraries is good, with a 6% growth for library media specialists predicted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the next decade.

Furthering Your Career in Museum Studies

• Combined Accelerated Bachelor's/Master's Degrees: Today’s careers require advanced degrees grounded in real-world experience. RIT’s Combined Accelerated Bachelor’s/Master’s Degrees enable you to earn both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in as little as five years of study, all while gaining the valuable hands-on experience that comes from co-ops, internships, research, study abroad, and more.
• 3+3 Accelerated BS/JD Programs: RIT has partnered with Syracuse University’s College of Law and University at Buffalo School of Law to offer accelerated 3+3 BS/JD options for highly capable students.
• RIT’s Teaching Partnership Programs: Whether your goal is to go into early childhood or elementary education, become a secondary education teacher with a content area specialty at the middle or high school level, or work in the higher education or counseling fields, RIT’s partnership programs with local universities provide a guided pathway to a career in teaching.

Curriculum

Museum Studies, BS degree, typical course sequence

• First Year
  • MUSE-220: Introduction to Museums (General Education - Social Perspective)
  • MUSE-221: Introduction to Public History (General Education - Elective)
  • YOPS-10: RIT 365: RIT Connections
  • General Education – Ethical Perspective
  • General Education – First-Year Writing (WI)
  • General Education – Global Perspective
  • General Education – Mathematical Perspective A
  • Specialized Electives I
  • Museum Studies Electives I,II
  • General Education - Elective
• Second Year
  • MUSE-224: History & Theory of Exhibitions (General Education - Artistic Perspective)
  • MUSE-340: Introduction to Archival Studies
  • MUSE-341: Museum Education & Interpretation
  • General Education – Immersion
  • General Education – Natural Science Inquiry Perspective ‡
  • General Education – Scientific Principles Perspective
  • General Education – Mathematical Perspective B
  • General Education - Elective
  • Museum Studies Elective III
  • Open Electives
• Third Year
  • MUSE-354: Exhibition Design
  • MUSE-357: Collections Management
  • General Education – Immersion 2
  • General Education – Elective
  • Museum Studies Electives IV
  • Open Elective
  • Specialized Electives II, III
  • MUSE-497: Museum Studies Internship (summer)
  • MUSE-498: Museum Studies Co-Op Part Time (summer)
  • MUSE-499: Museum Studies Co-op (summer)
• Fourth Year
  • MUSE-489: Research Methods (WI-PR)
  • MUSE-490: Senior Thesis in Museum Studies (WI-PR)
  • General Education – Electives
  • General Education - Immersion 3
  • Museum Studies Electives V, VI
  • Open Electives

Specialized Electives

• MUSE-225: Museums & the Digital Age
• MUSE-226: Introduction to Digital Cultural Heritage
• MUSE-359: Digital and Critical Curation
• MUSE-360: Visitor Engagement & Museum Technologies

Museum Studies Electives

• ANTH-328: Heritage and Tourism
• ANTH-415: Archaeological Science
• ARTH-135: Survey: Ancient to Medieval Art
• ARTH-136: Survey: Renaissance to Modern Art
• CLRS-201: Color Science for the Visual Arts
• DHSS-103: Ethics in the Digital Era
• HIST-101: Making History
• HIST-125: Public History and Public Debate
• HIST-322: Monuments and Memory
• HIST-323: America's National Parks
• HIST-324: Oral History
• HIST-325: Museums and History
• IMGS-115: Cultural Heritage Imaging
• MUSE-241: Topics in Museum Studies: Art, Design, & Exhibition Projects
• MUSE-244: Topics in Museum Studies: Museums and Society
• MUSE-249: Topics in Archives, Museums, and Community Collections
• MUSE-361: Tablet to Tablet: A History of Books
• MUSE-388: Gender and Contemporary Art
• MUSE-449: Special Topics Museum Studies
• SOIS-128: Community Folklife
• STSO-326: History of Ecology and Environmentalism
• STSO-510: Interdisciplinary Capstone Seminar
• STSO-521: Biodiversity and Society

Admissions and Financial Aid

First-Year Admission

• 4 years of English with a strong performance is expected.
• 3 years of social studies and/or history with a strong performance is expected.
• 3 years of math is required and must include algebra, geometry, and algebra 2/trigonometry.
• 2-3 years of science.

Transfer Admission

• A minimum of college algebra is required.

Financial Aid and Scholarships

• 100% of all incoming first-year and transfer students receive aid.
• RIT’s personalized and comprehensive financial aid program includes scholarships, grants, loans, and campus employment programs.

Faculty

• Juilee Decker
• Professor

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Contact

• Heather Roth
• Assistant Director of Recruitment and Retention Outreach
• Dean’s Office
• College of Liberal Arts
• 585‑475‑5456