Exhibitions Development Director
Exhibitions
As Exhibitions Development Director I lead the development component of The Field Museum's exhibitions. I oversee a staff of six Exhibitions Developers, one Exhibitions Evaluator, and several interns. I came to the Museum in 1995, to work in the Institutional Advancement office, before joining the Exhibitions Department in 1998. Over the last fifteen years I have served as Lead Developer on fourteen exhibitions, acted as co- or contributing Developer to several dozen more, and have overseen the development of all Field Museum temporary, traveling, and permanent exhibitions since assuming my current position in 2006. All told, I've worked--in one capacity or another--on more than 100 exhibitions.
Education and Work
Ph.D. in English, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, May, 1995. Concentration: Rhetoric and Composition
Dissertation title: The Power of Babel: Advertising Rhetoric and Public Discourse
M.A. in English, Loyola University Chicago, January, 1991
B.F.A. in Photographic Illustration, Rochester Institute of Technology, August, 1983**Exhibition Development Director **The Field Museum, April, 2006 – present. Responsibilities include:
- Establish creative direction and development philosophy for the Exhibition Development Division
- Organize staff labor resources to enable completion of up to 12 new exhibitions per year
- Hire contractors for exhibition development; visitor studies; image research; interactives and video production; and freelance writing, translation, editing, and proofreading
- Co-Chair the Museum's Science/Public Education Committee (SPEC)
- Develop an ongoing program of exhibition evaluation and visitor studies
**Exhibition Development Manager **The Field Museum, September, 2005 – March, 2006.
**Assistant Manager, Exhibition Development, **The Field Museum, September, 2003 – August 2005.
Exhibition Developer/Writer, The Field Museum, April, 1998 – September, 2003.
Served in the above positions on exhibitions such as
- The Gidwitz Hall of Birds
- The Abbott Hall of Conservation: Restoring Earth
- The Romance of Ants
- Mammoths and Mastodons; Titans of the Ice Age
Accomplishments
Conference presentations, publications, and consulting:
December, 2012: advisory panelist to the Oriental Institute of Chicago in preparation for their exhibition "Between Heaven and Earth: Birds of Ancient Egypt."
May, 2012: advisor to Northwestern University's TIDAL (Tangible Interactive Design and Learning) Lab project: Tree of Life
September, 2011: online presenter at the American Association of Museums’ “Technology and Innovation in Education” conference, discussing creation and evaluation of “Tusk Analysis” video and “Cave Art” interactive immersive experience for Mammoths and Mastodons.
July, 2011: co-presenter for a round table discussion at the Association of Midwest Museums, “Can an Exhibition Be Too Fun? Entertainment and education.”
July, 2011: instructor in the City of Chicago’s “After School Matters” project, seminar on exhibition development
December, 2010: advisory panelist to the Oriental Institute of Chicago in preparation for their exhibition of pre-pharaonic Egypt, Before the Pyramids.
November, 2009 and October, 2010: advisor to Oakland Museum of California’s Hotspot Californiamuseum renovation project.
November, 2007: invited lecturer at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art: “Bringing Pompeii to Life—and Vesuvius to Chicago.”
June, 2007: seminar presentation for graduate fellows: “Exhibiting Science: Writing on the Sciences for the General Public,” at The Land Institute, Salina Kansas.
April, 2006: chaired panel presentation: “...
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