Lois H. Silverman, PhD, MSW is Professor, Public Scholar of Museum Education, and Director of Graduate Studies for the Museum Studies Program at Indiana University Indianapolis. Thank you Lois for sharing your time and talents with AAMG! Lois also spoke at #AAMG2024 this past summer (check out her topic below!)
What’s one thing — either industry/work-related or not — you learned in the past month?
I asked my new undergraduate Museum Studies students to list three social issues that concern them most. I learned that they care deeply about economic inequality, gun violence, racism, women’s healthcare rights and access, climate change, and political accountability. They believe museums have a part to play in addressing these issues.
What do you value about your membership with AAMG?
Being an AAMG member provides me great opportunities to reconnect with old friends, to make new ones, and to be part of a vibrant community devoted to the needs of university-based museum and gallery work. I loved the chance to present at the last two conferences and to learn from colleagues, and I greatly appreciate AAMG’s warm welcome to recent graduates and emerging professionals.
If you could trade places with anyone for a day, who would it be?
It would have to be Jane Goodall, a shero of mine since I was small. I’d love to experience her 90 years of profound knowledge, deep spirituality, and especially her connections with chimps! I once had the privilege of meeting her at a book signing and she literally radiated wisdom and energy. I would love to feel what it’s like to be her.
Coffee or Tea?
Half-caff coffee every morning all year long; cinnamon/cardamom herbal tea in winter and on rainy days
Book/Author suggestion?
I’m a voracious reader of non-fiction, especially on occult and spiritual topics – fitting for the October member-of-the month, yes? If I ever go missing, check the metaphysical section of the local bookstore – it’s my happy place (see photo!) My latest read is Psychic Literacy: & The Coming Psychic Renaissance by Ingo Swann, whose artwork is on display at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore. My fiction pick is Winter’s Tale by Mark Helprin, an epic novel of love and magic in turn-of-the century New York. Pairs well with that herbal tea!
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
As a little kid, I wanted to be a waitress, and then a dancer. By high school, I wanted to be a writer. In college, I thought about being a counselor, a museum educator, and a professor. Amazingly, I now do all of the above, except for waiting tables – though I do dine out a lot and I always tip generously.
What do you enjoy most about being a part of an academic museum?
As a faculty member and Graduate Studies Director for a thriving Museum Studies program at Indiana University Indianapolis, I love that I get to work with a variety of campus museums and galleries, including the Ray Bradbury Center here at the IUI School of Liberal Arts, the Herron School of Art + Design galleries, the IUI Cultural Arts Gallery, and many others. I especially love working with our amazing students. If you know of anyone seeking an innovative, community-engaged Museum Studies MA or Graduate Certificate Program in the affordable Midwest, please send them my way!
What are your hopes for our industry?
I hope that the museum field in general never stops questioning and transforming what museums look like, why they exist, who is involved, and how to bring people and objects together in meaningful ways. As part of larger institutions devoted to research, innovation, and discovery that are full of creative, concerned students, university museums and galleries are uniquely suited to help shape the future of museums.
With conference call for proposals coming up, can you share a bit about your presentation this past summer for #AAMG2024?
At the AAMG conference this past summer, my former students and I presented a session with preliminary findings from a large-scale evaluation project we conducted of the Museum of Broken Relationships Indianapolis, a collaborative, community-based exhibition, and related program series. Our final report is almost done! If you’d like the link when it’s available, please email me at lsilverm@iu.edu and I’ll be sure you receive it.
Bonus: Do you have a favorite joke to share?
Well, since it’s October:
Q: How many witches does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: Into what?
