Re: Education/Experience debate

The debate is seemingly ongoing and there are many opinions as to what
degree best aids one in his or her quest for a gainful career in museums.
From the history museum perspective, a PhD is not a necessity for curatorial
positions. I have conducted informal, unscientific polls of some curatorial
departments and found that while many staff members have masters degrees,
few have PhDs.  Of course, this depends on museum size, reputation, etc.
etc.  Furthermore, even a cursory glance at museum job listings shows that
most curatorial jobs require Masters degree, not PhDs.

Will a job candidate with a PhD be chosen over a candidate with an MA?  Not
necessarily.  A MA holder with several years of experience has a great
chance of beating out a recent graduate of a PhD program with no experience.
Other factors come into play, too, including performance in the job
interview, publications, references, and specific skills related to that
particular job position. Sometimes, a PhD will work to ones disadvantage,
especially when looking for that elusive first museum job. The question on
the job interviewer's mind -- Is this person committed to a museum career or
just looking for a job until he/she lands an academic, tenure track
position?

To be sure, one needs to get an MA.  (Masters in History or Art History
versus a Masters in Museum Studies is another question)  The Masters degree
is standard in the profession and you will need it to get your first job.
The PhD?  Maybe, maybe not.

Nick Ciotola
Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania



-----Original Message-----
From: Cate Cooney [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, December 28, 2000 10:43 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Education


Hi Sienna and Everyone,

A quick search of the Museum-L archives at
http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/museum-l.html shows that while most
people agree that experience is what really matters, you will be hard
pressed to find a curatorial position without a Ph.D.

Maybe you should look at CAA Careers, or other such resource to see the
announcements for positions you really covet: what do they require?

It's my impression that a BA these days is like a high school degree was
40 years ago: it's the basic requirement.  That's not a comment on the
quality of people's BA or BS degrees at all by the way!  Most position
postings I have read lately require a Masters at the least, and for high
level curatorial positions, a Ph.D. in a relevant field is required.

Best of luck, and use the library,
Cate (not a Ph.D. so I probably shouldn't be answering this!)

Sienna Brown wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> This may have been discussed into the ground so I apologize if you are all
> sick of this question, I'm new to the list. I am a recent grad with a BA
in
> Art History. I currently have a good museum job. Despite my good job now I
> know I need to go to grad school but I don't know if its better to get my
MA
> or my Ph.D. My ultimate goal is to be a curator and my interests are in
> modern and contemporary (mostly contemporary) art and print making. Do any
> of you have any ideas at to whether an MA or a PhD is better for my
career.
>
> Thanks,
> Sienna Brown
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