Association of Academic Museums and Galleries

The Williams College Museum of Art seeks a Deputy Director for Education and Engagement. This senior management position generates the educational vision and engagement strategies of the museum, and leads the team responsible for teaching, learning, visitor engagement, public programming, and digital initiatives.

The Williams College Museum of Art makes dynamic art experiences to inspire new thinking about art, museums, and the world—and it does so from within the nation’s top-ranked liberal arts college. A vibrant center for the arts at Williams, the Museum embodies the liberal arts’ ability to catalyze both creative and critical thinking. It is a vital hub for deep student learning and participation; for taking risks and testing creative, future forms of scholarship and teaching; and for boldly affirming the relevance of the history of art and the arts broadly. Visit our website: http://wcma.williams.edu.

The Deputy Director for Education and Engagement is an articulate advocate for the role of art in liberal arts education, and an experienced and effective leader in the field of college and university art museums. Making the museum a platform for creativity and innovation, curricular learning and cocurricular life, and civic and cultural engagement, the Deputy Director develops and shares a pedagogical and programmatic approach to engaging with art in dialogue with the educational vision of Williams College, and with best practices in higher education and art museum practice.

As a key member of the senior leadership team, the Deputy Director for Education and Engagement helps shape the strategic priorities and program of the museum. This position manages a staff of six, guiding efforts in academic collaboration, teaching with the collection, co-curricular student engagement, public programming, interpretation, and digital projects. The Deputy Director advances participation by WCMA’s visitors with the collections, exhibitions, programs, and spaces of the museum while also positioning WCMA to shape the future role of art museums in higher education and in society more generally.

Williams College is committed to enriching its educational experience and its culture through the diversity of its faculty and staff. The Deputy Director for Education and Engagement serves as an essential leader developing a genuinely inclusive museum for the college and as a model for the field. Our expectation is that the successful candidate will excel at working in a community that is broadly diverse with regard to race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, gender, nationality, sexual orientation and religion. Applicants should highlight relevant experience with building, working with, and supporting a broadly diverse employee community.

Key responsibilities include:

• Serves as leader of the education and engagement team and manages its staff, budget, and activities.
• Supervises and directs overall program of education and engagement initiatives, determining priorities for the museum in conjunction with the Director.
• Actively identifies and cultivates opportunities and partnerships with Williams faculty, staff, and students across disciplines; colleagues from other museums and colleges; artists; community members; and others
• Designs and implements sustainable and rigorous programs that support undergraduate and graduate level art history students to develop capacities in museum practice.
• Provides strategic vision for how the museum’s physical space, online presence, and personnel create a welcoming experience and promote social and intellectual participation by all audiences. Contribute significantly to training of museum public facing staff to ensure all visitors feel they belong at the museum.
• Envisions and oversees coherent strategy of interpretation for the museum’s collections and exhibitions, ensuring meaningful access for a range of audiences, including faculty, college students, museum interns, adult public, families, and K-12 students and teachers.
• Collaborates with faculty on exhibitions, programs, and teaching; creates robust opportunities for broad-based student engagement; oversees professional development for museum interns. Supervises and mentors education and engagement staff responsible for specific aspects of this work.
• Teaches and lectures in a wide variety of contexts; directs and initiates the scholarly and educational engagement with art and exhibitions at the museum. Promotes knowledge of the museum and its program through writing, teaching and public speaking.
• Represents the museum at the college and on college committees; represents the museum and college to a local, national, and international community to promote the institution and its program.
• Designs and implements evaluation strategies for the museum’s educational offerings. Tracks and analyzes program participation; utilizes analysis of trends for future planning for programming, outreach, staffing, and budget.
• With development colleagues identifies opportunities to raise funds for programs and educational initiatives; works with the Grants Manager to identify and craft grant proposals and funding strategies that capitalize on the museum’s initiatives around academic and public engagement and education. Stewards donors.
• Hires and supervises staff on education and engagement team; participates on search committees across museum and campus. Plans and maintains budget for education and engagement.
• Plays a lead role in long-range institutional planning efforts, including planning for a new museum building.

Qualifications:

• Advanced degree in art history, education, museum studies, public humanities, or related discipline.
• 8+ years experience in art museum, preferably in education, preferably in college or university setting. College teaching experience a plus.
• Experience with art museum building project and/or large-scale collection and exhibition installation projects preferred.
• Demonstrated knowledge of art and art history.
• Skilled and flexible teacher with works of art.
• Demonstrated creativity and innovation in developing programs and exhibitions engaging a broad public, and academic community in particular.
• Commitment to making art accessible by way of new and innovative strategies, including digital.
• Excellent written communication and public speaking skills.
• Proven ability to work effectively in a team environment and collaborate across organizational structures.
• Ability and experience to lead a department and manage complex budgets, assignments, and staff.

For optimal consideration, please submit resume materials by March 15, 2019; review of resumes will continue until position is filled.

Employment at Williams is contingent on the verification of background information submitted by the applicant, including the completion of a criminal record check, and education when applicable.

To apply for this position, please visit http://staff-careers.williams.edu. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us via phone at (413) 597-4247 or email at hr@williams.edu.

Beyond meeting fully its legal obligations for non-discrimination, Williams College is committed to building a diverse and inclusive community where members from all backgrounds can live, learn, and thrive.

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