Assistant Professor of Museum Studies

The Museum Studies Program in the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design at The George Washington University seeks to hire an Assistant Professor to lead the program's collections management track; teach core courses in collections management on topics including: acquisitions, accessioning, deaccessioning, numbering, documentation, collection management systems, and regulations, paperwork, and courier options for incoming and outgoing loans; and to develop courses related to other key areas of interest. This is a full-time, 9-month, non-tenure accruing position beginning as early as Fall 2027 with a renewable three-year contract. The position accrues benefits offered to full-time faculty including eligibility for fellowship and sabbatical leave, University funding competitions, and promotions.

Within Museum Studies, we are thinking seriously about how to use our position as one of the biggest and oldest programs nationally to ground ethical, socially responsible practice in all aspects of museum work. We are particularly interested in emerging concerns in the museum field including caring for/stewardship of culturally sensitive materials; provenance research; cultural property law and ethics; inquiry into what is collected and preserved; questions of access; approaches to repatriation; ethics related to collections data; or technology use in collections management.

We are highly committed to recruiting faculty of the highest caliber who have thrived in different environments. We are interested in applicants who are able to work effectively with students, faculty, and staff from all backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives.

The successful candidate will be eligible for startup funding of up to $10,000, as well as GW's comprehensive benefit package including employee medical insurance. For benefits program details please visit https://hr.gwu.edu/benefits-programs .

About Museum Studies

The Master of Arts in Museum Studies prepares the next generation of museum professionals to participate in and help shape the future of the field. Established in 1976, the program emphasizes foundational knowledge in museum studies, practical skills, and critical engagement with key issues facing museums today. Students come from a wide variety of disciplinary backgrounds and gain a depth of knowledge in areas of focus around Collections Management, Museum Management, Exhibitions and Visitor Experience, or Public Engagement. This role will also teach students in the Master of Arts in Museums, History, and Culture, as well as other related disciplines, including art history and anthropology.

With our unique location in the nation's museum capital, the Museum Studies Program is committed to creating a more representative and inclusive environment and the further development of a curriculum increasingly responsive to issues of equity in the academy and the museum profession. The program at its core both trains students in skills and exposes them to "best practices" in the field and also grounds them with an ability to engage critically with museum history, theory, and practice.

About the Corcoran

The Corcoran School of the Arts & Design at the George Washington University offers more than 20 degree programs in the fields of Art History, Design, Interior Architecture, Music, Museum Studies, Studio Arts, and Theatre and Dance. As part of the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, we exemplify the College's commitment to the engaged liberal arts, an approach that links disparate fields and prepares our graduates for rich, multidimensional careers in a changing world. The Corcoran School's home in the heart of downtown Washington, D.C. provides opportunities for our students and faculty to tap into both a vibrant, historied local city and a nerve center of international culture and government. We have a strong track record of initiating new ventures and collaborating with some of D.C.'s most prestigious institutions, galleries, museums, companies, and firms.

To be considered, please submit an online application and upload a cover letter; curriculum vitae; statement of teaching interest; research statement; and the names of three references. Only complete applications will be considered.

Review of applications will begin on December 7 and will continue until the position is filled.

The university is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer that does not unlawfully discriminate in any of its programs or activities on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or on any other basis prohibited by applicable law.