Critical Museum StudiesStudent Ambassadors Program

  • The Critical Museum Studies (CMST) Student Ambassadors Program connects outstanding CMST minors with prospective minors. Ambassadors meet with prospective students who are visiting HWS during Admissions events, sharing their experiences as students in the CMST Program and offering insights about how the minor has helped them to discover and pursue their academic and professional goals. Ambassadors also meet with current HWS students who are exploring the minor. They offer advice about course selections within the minor, helping to conceptualize individualized capstone project ideas, as well as inform them of internship and networking opportunities.

    If you are interested in connecting with a Critical Museum Studies Student Ambassador, please contact the Critical Museum Studies minor program Chair, Angelique Szymanek: szymanek@hws.edu.

     

    Croce

    Art History and French & Francophone Studies major; Critical Museum Studies minor Adriana Croce '25

    The CMST program has given me opportunities to grow both in the classroom and in gallery spaces with hands-on experience! The faculty has been incredibly supportive in helping me forge my path in the field. I am a director of the Provenzano Student Art Gallery, and I studied abroad in Grenoble, France in the fall 2023 semester. Recently, I have been working on a project that unites my majors in Art History and French and Francophone Studies-- curating my second exhibition: A Decolonial Critique of French Art Museums!

  • Nafz

    History major; Critical Museum Studies and Environmental Studies minor Lizzy Nafz '24

    CMST has created amazing learning opportunities during my time at HWS and is inspiring me as I plan for my future career. In addition, to learning in Critical Museum Studies and Art History courses, the minor has allowed me hands on experience. I was a summer archival intern at Historic Geneva which spurred an independent curation of an exhibition that showed in the Solarium Gallery. Also, I worked with the George Stephanopoulos photography collection learning cataloging and curating during two separate semester long internship courses. Outside of the minor, I am pursuing a degree in History and a minor in Environmental Studies. Spring of 2023 I participated in a study abroad program in Norwich, England where I had the opportunity to visit historic stately homes with grant from HWS. I am an Archive Student Assistant in the HWS archive, Bristol Field House Student Monitor at the Bristol Field House, and volunteer at Historic Geneva. I am excited to put my Critical Museum Studies experience to good use in a future career working in historical museums or archives.

  • García

    Art History major; Critical Museum Studies minor Román O. Vargas García '24 (he/they/el/elle)

    Having the CMST program recently available, I have been fortunate enough to minor in it as a senior. Because the program compliments my Art History major, the theoretical has met the practical aspects of handling and understanding museums in the real world. With great suggestions, I have been an intern at the Provenzano Student Art Gallery where I have learned the behind-the-scenes of gallery spaces that have taught me invaluable experiences of the industry. In addition, my CMST capstone project has made me assemble all my knowledge from CMST courses that taught me the essentials of an exhibition while also applying the critical thinking involved in analyzing collections from institutions through the displaying and cataloging of objects from cultural regions of the Americas from the HWS Collection, an area that resonates with my interests.