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Video Introduction from
Dr. James Pappas
Dean of the
College of Liberal Studies
6:46 
LSTD 5003 - Introduction to Graduate Interdisciplinary Studies (Online)
The present introductory seminar is designed to orient you to being a graduate student in a university. This, of course, is an extension of your previous college work as an undergraduate but there are significant differences. As a graduate student you will be expected to be more independent in your scholarship and to do work that shows more originality than was required as an undergraduate. You will learn to pursue knowledge on your own and to critically evaluate information as you discover it. In short, you will learn how to learn, how to think, and how to create. Some parts of this course will provide you with information. Other parts will help you develop skills. At the end, you will be prepared to make the most of the other courses and activities that are involved in the program.
LSTD 5013 - Interdisciplinary Foundations (Online)
All MLS students read and write reports on a series of interdisciplinary texts as common background for the MLS program.
The readings in this enrollment are designed to reinforce an interdisciplinary approach to graduate studies as well as lay the foundation for your interdisciplinary enrollments and future thesis or project research.
This course also serves to introduce paradigms, the underlying formulations which provide the structure for understanding and interpreting information.
LSTD 5523 - The World of a Museum (Online)
A museum is a very special place, a complex organization that may include almost as many connections with its community as a university or other major educational or private organization. Larger museums, whether free-standing or placed within a larger parent organization such as a university, may include: collection preservation centers; a research institute; K-12 and adult educational programs; formal university classes; public outreach with a very high profile in the immediate community or state; political interactions with the legislature or local government; staff management challenges; questions relating to the protection, handling, and legal considerations of sacred objects, endangered species, or human remains; parking lot management; park or reserve management; commercial activities such as gift shops, traveling exhibit rental, or space rental for special events; physical plant management; architectural and engineering considerations if a new building is being constructed or if building expansion occurs; fund raising at local, state, national and international levels, including contacting and cultivating major donors; budgetary management that may involve millions of dollars annually; various legal and ethical challenges related to the museums personnel, objects, programs, or research activities; and many other duties, obligations, and considerations that will challenge museum personnel during the course of their career.
This class is designed to prepare the students to meet the many challenges involved in operating a museum or in being an employee of a museum, and to understand how and why museum managers may act as they do as museums meet the daily challenges of the world of a museum. By successfully completing the course, the student will have a much better understanding of the complexity of the museum world and their place in that world. Moreover, they will be among the better-informed employees of any museum that hires them and will be able to adapt to new challenges and opportunities that may arise during their museum career.
LSTD 5553 - History and Architecture of the Museum (Online)
The course will explore the history and architecture of public museums, from the late eighteenth century to the present. First, we will focus on the founding of the Louvre museum, and then examine the classical model for the museum and museum building established in Europe and America in the nineteenth century and surviving into the twentieth with institutions such as National Gallery of Art. The course will then look at assaults on and the evolution of the classical model by, for instance, the Museum of Modern Art and the art museums of Louis I. Kahn. We will then survey the numerous building projects of recent decades. The course will conclude with an examination of the major issues involved when a museum plans an expansion, selects an architect, and determines the building program. The emphasis will be on art museums.
LSTD 5560 - Museum Project (Independent Study)
The project will enable the student to:
LSTD 5563 - Museum Management and Leadership (Online)
Leading and managing museums is a real challenge. Museums are complex and multifaceted institutions. Among our oldest public enterprises, museums are the most popular, trusted, visible, and occasionally controversial. Based on collections of all types, their mission has evolved to include research, teaching, informal education, exhibition and dissemination of information. A wide variety of other benefits or “social capital” can be by-products of museums, including recreation, tourism, and community connection, safety, and stability. Typically, museums also are not-for-profit institutions with unique financial structures and diverse revenue streams. In a highly competitive, changing, and politically charged environment, museums have many different roles, responsibilities and expectations. To be successful, museum leaders and managers to must work together to create a shared vision, form a team of trusted staff and develop a management culture that shares an enthusiasm, energy and passion for the museum’s mission. They also must create a strategic business plan that keeps the museum financially sound and vigorous. They must show that their museums significantly increase the quality of life.
This course is designed for students to understand top quality museum administration and management and to meet the challenges of directing and operating successful museums.
LSTD 5570 - Special Problems in Museology (Online)
A central mission of museums is education and outreach. Because education plays such a vital role in museums, it is becoming increasingly necessary for museum professionals to have a strong foundation in museum education. This course serves as an introduction to museum education, including object-based learning, learning environments, and learning theories, an understanding of which fosters the development of effective and motivating educational programs in museums. Although this course is intended to target those in the museum profession, this information can be applied towards the development of educational programs in other informal education fields.
LSTD 5573 - Museum Culture (Online)
Museums and their collections no longer stand apart from the communities where they reside and serve. Increasingly, museums are called upon to interact with society in new and sometimes unexpected ways. This evolving role has revised the traditional mission of museums and has called for new approaches and partnerships designed to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse and often demanding audience. Successful interaction with the public through exhibitions, educational programming, board development and volunteer associations, not only strengthens the museum’s position of leadership within the community but also is key to gaining and maintaining the financial and moral support required for its very survival.
LSTD 5583 - Collection Management (Online)
In this course we will consider the place of collections in the life of the museum. Just as the types of museums are varied so is the nature of their collections. It is essential that the collections mesh with the goals and aspirations of the museum. For example, a science museum might have as its major purpose the active demonstration of scientific principles. An art museum might stress an aesthetic experience in which the object was paramount and the interpretation individual. A natural history museum might be a research institution as well as a place for educating and entertaining the public, so it would have a greater archival emphasis. As the general purposes of museums have changed throughout time, collections have taken on a different function, but one no less significant. In modern museums the interaction between the public and the collections is becoming increasingly important. Although in some quarters there is pressure to make the museum a sort of theme park, museums and galleries are still based in large part on their collections. Just as the numbers of museums have grown exponentially, so have the sizes of their collections. The increase in numbers underscores the necessity of developing appropriate accession and de-accession policies. Stewardship, that is the proper care of collections, involves record keeping as well as preservation and conservation.
We will relate theoretical ideas on collection development and maintenance to the actualities of museum situations. Although we recognize that different kinds of collections have unique requirements, most of the readings will be general, and will include principles common to all kinds of collections. However, the semester project will be specific to a museum selected by the student and will apply the general principles to a specific situation.
LSTD 5590 - Introduction to Museum Interpretation
Iin 1957, Freeman Tilden of the National Park Service defined the concept of interpretaion and pioneered its study and implementation in museums, parks, and historic sites. He described interpretation as a mode of communication intended to highlight information, emphazine the whole, and ultimatley provoke curiosity about a topic, with a variety of media, such as exhibits and programs. The purpose of interpretation was not to instruct, or to share absolutely all the information about a topic, but to stimulate further thinking about a topic through illustrative media, such as material objects. This course is designed as an introduction to interpretation. A concluding practicum enables students to experience practical applications.
LSTD 5790 - Advanced Topics in Interdisciplinary Study (Independent Study)
Intensive research on a topic related to the student's program of study; variable topics. May be repeated with change of content; maximum credit nine hours.
LSTD 5890 - Investigative Interdisciplinary Studies (Independent Study)
Exploration of special issues and/or problems related to the student's program of study; variable content. May be repeated with change of content; maximum credit nine hours.
LSTD 5903 - Research Methods (Online)
This class develops and expands the concepts introduced in Interdisciplinary Foundations. We will underscore the conceptual frames for thinking about inquiry and research. It will do this by exploring recent issues, theoretical approaches, and professional concerns specific to the area of study in which you will be doing research.
LSTD 5913 - Qualitative Research Methods in Interdisciplinary Studies (Online)
An interdisciplinary inquiry designed to acquaint students with qualitative research methods in interprofessional human and health services. The student will be familiar with the most common forms of qualitative research including how to design a study; ethical issues that must be recognized and appropriately addressed; and analysis of qualitative data.
LSTD 5960 - Directed Readings in Interdisciplinary Study (Independent Study)
An in-depth study of literature on a topic related to the student's program of study; variable content. May be repeated with change of content; maximum credit nine hours.
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