History/Historic Preservation/Public History/Historic Architecture

Western Michigan offers an undergraduate minor in Nonprofit Leadership and a graduate certificate in Nonprofit Leadership and Administration.  The Graduate Certificate in Nonprofit Leadership and Administration is intended for nonprofit employees and volunteers who desire to enhance their managerial skills, but do not want to complete a 39 credit hour Master's degree program, or who want to 'test the water' before deciding whether to pursue a Master's degree.

The Public History major prepares students for careers in museums, archives, historic sites and organizations, government programs, and consulting.  With the aim of making history a useful educational and planning tool in communities, WMU's Public History Program emphasizes varied resources and methodologies, and focuses on regional environments and cultural resources.  Students in the Public History curriculum will gain a strong background in history as well as experience in cultural resource management, museum and archive administration, public relations and historic preservation.   Public History majors must also complete an approved internship.

Eastern Michigan University offers an Interdisciplinary Graduate Certificate in Cultural Museum Studies and a Master of Science in Historic Preservation.

The Interdisciplinary Graduate Certificate in Cultural Museum Studies (CMS) provides foundational training for professional engagement with the selection, conservation, interpretation, and exhibition of inanimate and living collections. Special attention is given to the cross-cultural analysis, application, and assessment of the various ways “research exhibit-and-presentation” dynamics affect display design in museums and related institutions, and to the pedagogical dimension of museological theory and practice. A flexible curriculum allows for individualized specializations in various aspects of museology, from the ecological impact on definitions of cultural heritage, to the application of virtuality to exhibition procedures.

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The MS in Historic Preservation is housed in the Department of Geography & Geology, and regularly cooperates with other departments including History, Art, Construction Technology, and the Division of Extended Programs for prerequisite and other coursework. The program focuses on career development in the following concentrations with the aim of preparing students for gainful employment in the field of historic preservation in the public and private sector: Preservation Planning; Heritage Interpretation, Tourism, and Administration; Conservation and Technology; and General Studies. A Field School in Preservation Technology is offered during the spring term.

A five-course graduate level certificate in historic preservation also is available, as is an undergraduate minor in historic preservation.

MA in History with a concentration in Public History

Course offerings include the following: Administration of Non-Profits, Historical Exhibits and Museums, Historic Preservation, History and Media, Local History Methodology, Publishing for Non-Profits, Oral History, Issues in Public History, Genealogical Research, Historical Re-enacting, Public Policy Analysis, Industrial Archeology, and Historical Societies and Archives. Graduates have gone on to significant positions in historical societies, museums, archives, business, documentary film production, and other related organizations.

Fieldwork courses assist students in preparing for careers in public history, and enable students to tailor their program to their interests and needs. In recent years, students have completed their fieldwork requirement in such organizations as: WGBH (PBS) Boston, the Frederick Law Olmsted House, the USS Constitution Museum, the National Park Service, the Massachusetts Historical Society, Blackside [Film] Productions, the Massachusetts Preservation Commission, Old Sturbridge Village, the Concord [MA] Museum, the New England Historic and Genealogical Society, The Bostonia Society, the Tsongas Historical Center, and the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities ... opportunities in other regions of the United States, including the Minnesota Historical Society and the Cowpens National Historic Site [SC]. International fieldwork opportunities have included work in Museums in London and Prague.

At the undergraduate level, Regis offers a BA in History with a Museum Studies Minor, a Museum Studies Concentration, a Museum Studies Certificate, or a Heritage Studies Concentration. At the graduate level, the Heritage Studies Department offers an MA in Heritage Studies for a Global Society and a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies in Heritage Studies.

The Museum Studies program at Regis College is one of only two programs in Massachusetts recommended by the Smithsonian. It introduces students to the history, internal workings, and the significant public place of museums in today's society. Students examine grant-writing, collections management, interpretive analysis, exhibition design, and nonprofit governance. They receive hands-on experience with diverse aspects of museum work through professional internships, and explore the history of museums, in addition to new challenges faced by museum leaders today.

The undergraduate applied history curriculum is a hands-on experience. The approach is designed not only for students interested in public history, archaeology, and historical preservation; it also serves those students with a passion for cultural memory, folklore, myth, and religion. The program is a cultural one, built on the fundamentals of ethnohistory (an interdisciplinary approach blending history with anthropology, archaeology, art history, etc.). Maintaining the rigor of the traditional major, it adds a practical and applicable set of skills which will serve students who choose to begin their careers immediately after their undergraduate training, in addition to those intending to pursue a post-baccalaureate degree.

The MA in Heritage Studies for a Global Society is a program that responds to social and economic demands for practical application of liberal arts skills in a variety of contexts. As historical, material, and cultural artifacts – ancient or modern, local, national or international, written or traditional – are lost, destroyed, or misrepresented and poorly understood, competent professionals with theoretical training across the disciplines will be in high demand. Our students are prepared for two pathways: academic and professional. The rigorous curriculum reinforces a student’s aptitude for successful scholarship, and the high standard – including an individualized thesis – prepares students for continued studies in graduate or professional schools, or Ph.D. programs in one of our affiliated universities. It is also a tool for skill sharpening and experience building in order to either gain or enhance professional employment in a variety of areas, including: museums and archives, heritage tourism and historic site interpretation, public history, and historic preservation.

The Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies (CAGS) in Heritage Studies is designed for students seeking further education, intellectual dialog, interdisciplinary experience, or to explore new ideas relating to their careers or previous courses of study, who do not need a second master’s or a doctoral degree.

The University offers an MA in History with a concentration in Museum Studies or Historic Preservation; or, an MS in Interior Architecture with a concentration in Historic Preservation or Museum Studies. In addition, the Department of Interior Architecture administers a Certificate in Historic Preservation, which introduces students to current issues and practices in the field by having them take three core Historic Preservation courses (Historic Preservation: Principles and Practice; History of American Landscapes and Architecture; and Preservation Planning and Law), a for-credit internship, and one elective. The Historic Preservation Certificate is ideal for professionals who already have a job in the field (and are seeking further training) or people who already have a Master's and want to gain additional skills.

Master of Arts in History:
The Museum Studies concentration offers a broad-based training in how to build relationships between history and public audiences, focusing on the theory and practice of telling stories through museums, historic sites, and other cultural institutions. It introduces students to the tools that public historians use; examines contemporary models for how best to reach audiences in ways that make history meaningful; and offers concrete experience in the development of public projects, collaboration, and leadership. Students engage in re-thinking how the professional practices of collecting, preserving, and interpreting the past are changing in the 21st century.

The Historic Preservation concentration trains students to see the past in the tangible world around us. Students focus on the theory and practice involved in “reading” the built environment, developing skills in researching the stories these sites tell, and making informed decisions about the appropriate treatment of historic buildings and neighborhoods. Students gain tools that help them inject historic preservation into contemporary discussions about urban planning, economic development, and environmental impact.

Master of Science in Interior Architecture:
The MS in Interior Architecture program is a post-professional degree with opportunities for concentrations in historic preservation, museum studies, interior product design. It approaches Historic Preservation from the designer's perspective offers opportunities to identify, document, evaluate, restore, rehabilitate, and adapt the historic built environment. As preservationists work with historic buildings, neighborhoods, urban downtowns, and rural districts, they directly impact the quality of life for local communities as they protect and enhance their sense of place. Career paths include preservation-related design and planning practice, architectural survey fieldwork, architectural conservation, and historic site interpretation or administration.

The MS in Interior Architecture approaches museum studies from the designer's perspective offers special opportunities to tell stories visually and graphically through designing exhibits or interpreting historic interiors. Students learn how to present the past in meaningful ways to the larger community. Career options include working at a museum, historic site, or other public history venue as an exhibit designer, graphic designer, web designer, and historic site interpreter or administrator.

MA in Public History prepares its students to work in a variety of public and applied history settings; archives, museums, libraries and other public history facilities. Public History is viewed as an approach not only to scholarship but to the practice of history and engagement with the world. Public history is the way in which they make history relevant to our communities, states, and nation. They promote the collaborative nature of public history, the importance of relevance over objectivity, and the civic role of the public historian.

The Museum Studies Program offers intense training in museology theories and methodologies, preparing students to work with public audiences in museums, historic sites, and other cultural institutions. The program introduces students to the tools that public historians use: material culture, shared inquiry and authority, weighing relevance against objectivity, and professional ethics. Through the development of public projects, students learn the benefits of collaboration and the responsibilities of leadership.

The Heritage Studies Program provides students with professional skills to work for local, state, national, and international organizations as well as private institutions in developing concepts and strategies for the conservation, rehabilitation and promotion of cultural resources and heritage sites. They will be able to design and implement plans for the protection and development of heritage properties, and create models for sustainable tourism around historic and heritage sites.

Archival studies is offered through a dual degree program with the School of Information and Library Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The dual degree program allows students to pursue an MILS degree in archival management as well as an MA in public history in museum studies, heritage studies, or a tailored curriculum to complement their archival degree. The dual degree program was created in response to today’s marketplace demands that archivists, manuscript curators, and records managers have both historical knowledge and advanced information management skills. The new archival workforce must both be able to appraise and describe historical records, and create World Wide Web sites and preserve electronic documents. ... Students must apply and be admitted to each graduate program separately, identifing their interest in the dual degree prior to admission.

Offers an MA in Public History, which trains students to understand and perform rigorous historical research and analysis in the academic world, and also recognize the public’s interest and curiosity in history.  Public Historians work collaboratively with other professional historians to create a bridge between public and academic history. We design an environment that enables the public to actively experience, view, and interpret history.  Public historians work in fields such as museums, archives, cultural resource management, and historic preservation.

The Public History Program trains students for great jobs in museums and historic sites, archives, and historic preservation. Student can pursue an MA or a PhD in Public History and earn one of two certificates (the “Certificate in Museum Management” and the “Certificate in Historical Archaeology & Cultural Resource Management”). In addition, a dual-degree is offered in the a Joint Program with the School of Library and Information Science. Coursework, internships, advising, and job placement are supervised by a designated faculty member for each of our three tracks of specialization: museum studies, historic preservation, and archival administration.

The Museum Management Certificate is designed to be completed concurrently with a graduate degree in an academic field, or to supplement a degree already in hand and for museum professionals who have already attained a graduate degree and would like to extend their knowledge in the museum field. Focuses on management, collections, and exhibitions and related programs.

School offers a BA in History-Museum Studies and an MA in History-Museum Studies.

The undergraduate Museum Studies Program provides training to students interested in pursuing careers in museums, historical agencies, archives, national parks, and related institutions. The Master of Arts in History is designed for those who wish to further their knowledge of history and the historian's craft, prepare for doctoral programs, or pursue professional goals through the Social Studies Teaching or Museum Studies options. Course offerings reflect the Department of History and Geography's commitment to the highest standards of research and writing and to the development of an awareness and understanding of diverse cultures.

The MA 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. The Program's goals are:

• 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.