Tiffany Miller is a student member of AAMG and an MA Candidate in Art History and Museum Studies at Syracuse University, where she will graduate come spring of 2022. She was a volunteer for our 2021 Annual Conference and was an integral part of the tech team making this year’s virtual conference a success! Thank you Tiffany, for your membership, sharing your time with us, and all your volunteer efforts!
What’s one thing — either industry/work-related or not — you learned in the past month?
TM: Boring, I know, but in the past month I have learned so much about Zoom from being one of the tech support volunteers for the recent AAMG conference. For example, managing breakout sessions and turning off the chime sound when participants join or leave sessions.
If you could trade places with anyone for a day, who would it be?
TM: I would absolutely trade places with Sophia Loren back in the 1950s because I am enamored by 1950s Italian film and she is such a film, fashion, and food icon.
Coffee or Tea?
TM: Definitely tea! I used to be coffee crazed, but over the years I have become somewhat sensitive to caffeine, and now I love rose and jasmine green tea which I drink daily!
Book/Author suggestion?
TM: I have been loving Paolo Coelho’s books for years, such as The Alchemist, but a book I am really to get my hands on is a cook book titled Pasta Grannies by Vicky Bennison which highlights the stories of Italian nonnas while explaining how to make their time-perfected recipes. I am trying to expand my culinary skills and make new dishes, especially underexplored Italian recipes. They have a YouTube channel and Facebook page to watch their videos as well!
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
TM: I wanted to be a fashion journalist for years until I took my first art history course in college. I job shadowed one of the lead news anchors in Indiana and I was a part of my high school newspaper staff where I reviewed each fashion week and interviewed my schoolmates about what they wore and about the trends.
What do you enjoy most about being a part of an academic museum?
TM: I love the sense of community, working with students and with classes/professors across multiple departments, and I love wearing multiple hats! I think it is so important to experience what other departments do, because I believe that leads to better communication, trust, and team building when there is a larger understanding of what everyone does.
What are your hopes for our industry?
TM: I have many hopes for the industry; in particular, I hope that the industry can work harder to be more inclusive and diverse, and I hope that institutions can increasingly work on the repatriation of objects and value the idea of collaboration with the community when it comes to researching an institution’s’ collection and generating exhibitions.
Bonus: Do you have a favorite joke to share?
TM: My favorite joke is terrible but: “Why do you knock on the fridge…?
Because there could be a salad dressing!”
