Simpson plans new museum studies major

Georgia College & State University students who are interested in museum studies finally have a major of their own.

The program coordinator, Dr. Yaalieth Simpson, who holds a doctorate of education degree in art and art education and a Master of Arts degree in arts administration from Columbia University, brings big city experience to a small university.

Simpson’s involvement in the arts goes back to her childhood. She’s been dancing and playing the piano since her early childhood, was trained as painter at Carnegie-Mellon University. She has worked in The Studio Museum in Harlem and The Whitney Museum of American Art and has spent time doing art therapy at AIDS hospitals as well.

Simpson said she plans on implementing elements of the diverse curriculum she picked up in her graduate studies here at GC&SU.

“This is a very interdisciplinary program,” Simpson said. “I remember back as a graduate student at Columbia and their management program. I took business courses, accounting, marketing, human resources management, but also, knowing that I needed to know the art side of it, because I was particularly in gallery administration, I really wanted to learn how to curate shows, learn how to do archival work, and how to write a really nice research piece to accompany an exhibit.”

Simpson said each student’s curriculum will depend on his or her interests. There will only be two classes offered by the art department, and depending on what area of museum students the student is interested in, other classes from other related areas.

“Even though the concentration is rooted in the art department, people can veer off in different areas. Maybe somebody wants to be a curator. Maybe they want to take a lot of art history courses as all of their electives. The point is, it’s a wide-open major. It’s very interdisciplinary and you can choose your own concentration within the major,” Simpson said.

Richard Lou, chair of the GC&SU art department, said the new major will be good for many students interested in the arts.

“It’s been our experience that a lot of artists and art historians, as some point in their lives and careers, end up at a gallery or a museum. It might not be their final destination, but usually galleries and museums are really good places where information comes in. We thought it would be a good idea to actually create a program that would train students who were interested,” Lou said. “Milledgeville is in a really good position because we have all these other cultural institution that we have close ties with where students can have internships.”

Simpson stressed that an important part of the program will be internship opportunities that will help students gain the practical experience they need to start a career. Possibilities include positions at the Blackbridge Hall Gallery and the Museum and Archive of Georgia Education, both on the campus of GC&SU.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Nov 12 2004. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry