Do you have a broad understanding of the history of art and enjoy speaking to groups of students and adults? Are you interested in furthering the Chazen Museum of Art’s mission to support the teaching, research, and public service mission of the University of Wisconsin–Madison? Then you may be the perfect candidate for the role of Academic Coordinator. The Academic Coordinator will coordinate, prepare for, and support visits to the Chazen’s two study rooms. The study rooms, which are open by reservation, offer space for researchers, curators, classes, and adult groups to view artworks that are currently not on view in the Chazen’s galleries. The Academic Coordinator will also improve access to information about the Chazen’s collection by cataloguing artworks, fielding reproduction requests, and processing digital images of the Chazen’s collection.
The Chazen Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin-Madison, seeks an energetic, hardworking, and engaged professional for the position of Academic Coordinator. The Academic Coordinator facilitates access to the Chazen Museum of Art’s permanent collection, especially those artworks not on view in its galleries, particularly for University of Wisconsin-Madison faculty and students. The Academic Coordinator coordinates, prepares for, and supports visits to the Chazen’s study rooms by classes from UW-Madison and other colleges, adult and student groups, and individual researchers, working closely with faculty and researchers to identify relevant artworks from the Chazen’s collection.
The Chazen Museum of Art has two study room spaces: one dedicated to three-dimensional objects and one devoted to works on paper. These spaces can be reserved by groups and individuals to view artworks not currently on view in the Chazen’s galleries. The Chazen’s collection consists of 24,000 artworks, approximately 60% of which are works on paper, only a portion of which can be displayed in its galleries at any given time. The Chazen’s study rooms are used actively to view such artworks by UW-Madison classes and other adult groups, along with individual researchers including, but not limited to, Chazen staff, graduate students, curators from other institutions, artists, and art enthusiasts.
Based in the Prints and Drawings Study Room, the Academic Coordinator will work primarily with works on paper, but also smaller three-dimensional artworks requested for viewing. The Academic Coordinator will handle artworks and prepare them for viewing, monitor groups visiting their visits to the study rooms, and put away artworks following visits. They will train and oversee student workers to assist in these tasks as needed. In addition, they will provide instruction when requested and where appropriate and must therefore be comfortable speaking to groups, have a broad knowledge of the history of art, an interest in making interdisciplinary connections, and be open to further learning on a variety of subjects. The Academic Coordinator improves access to information about the Chazen’s collection by cataloguing artworks, fielding reproduction requests, and processing digital images related to the Chazen’s collection. They will coordinate with the Chazen’s preparators to pull larger artworks and with the Chazen’s education staff to arrange visits that include gallery tours.
Job Responsibilities
Provides a wide variety of basic archival services in collection development, appraisal of collection materials in a variety of formats, arrangement and description, preservation, reference and research support, and outreach and instruction in support of historical documentation, education, and research. Provides input on policies and procedures, typically through committee work, to contribute to services and operations, and assist in continual service improvement and innovation.
- 10% Educates patrons on the use and handling of the collections and assists patrons with reference and research
- 25% Assists in creation and coordination of outreach and collaborative initiatives including providing instructional sessions using archival collections
- 25% Collects, appraises, arranges, and describes primary sources to make them discoverable
- 5% Fosters relationships with professional colleagues and participates in professional development
- 15% Provides operational guidance on day-to-day activities of student workers
- 5% Assists with development of policies and procedures to improve user experience and workflows
- 15% Assists with the housing, rehousing, and preservation of the works on paper collection, including tracking locations in the collection database and conducting regular inventories of the works on paper collection
Salary: $50,000-60,000
Qualifications:
Required:
-Bachelor’s degree
-Demonstrated experience with public interaction in a professional context
-Ability to handle art storage boxes and objects up to 30 lbs. and ability to lift materials over head
Preferred:
-Master’s degree in art history or closely related field, MLIS, or Museum Studies degree
-1 or more years working in a curatorial or educational capacity at a museum, arts organization, educational institution, or nonprofit
-Demonstrated experience handling and/or cataloguing artwork
-Demonstrated experience using Adobe Photoshop and/or image processing
-Working knowledge of collections management databases
For more information and application: Applications can only be taken online through the following link: https://jobs.hr.wisc.edu/en-us/job/514413/academic-coordinator
About the Chazen: The Chazen Museum of Art makes its home between two lakes on the beautiful campus of the University of Wisconsin–Madison. UW–Madison occupies ancestral Ho-Chunk land, a place their nation has called Teejop (day-JOPE) since time immemorial. In an 1832 treaty, the Ho-Chunk were forced to cede this territory. Decades of ethnic cleansing followed when both the federal and state government repeatedly, but unsuccessfully, sought to forcibly remove the Ho-Chunk from Wisconsin. This history of colonization informs our shared future of collaboration and innovation. Today, UW–Madison respects the inherent sovereignty of the Ho-Chunk Nation, along with the eleven other First Nations of Wisconsin.
Within walking distance of the state capitol, the Chazen sits squarely in the heart of a vibrant college town. The Chazen’s expansive two-building site holds the second-largest collection of art in Wisconsin and is the largest collecting museum in the Big 10. Within its 176,000 square feet of museum space is a collection of approximately 24,000 works of art covering diverse historical periods, cultures and geographic locations, from ancient Greece, Western Europe and the Soviet Empire to Moghul India, 18th-century Japan and modern Africa.
Diversity is a source of strength, creativity, and innovation for UW–Madison. We value the contributions of each person and respect the profound ways their identity, culture, background, experience, status, abilities, and opinion enrich the university community. We commit ourselves to the pursuit of excellence in teaching, research, outreach, and diversity as inextricably linked goals. The University of Wisconsin–Madison fulfills its public mission by creating a welcoming and inclusive community for people from every background—people who as students, faculty, and staff serve Wisconsin and the world.
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