In the News

Please write to us to share any job changes or significant achievements you would like to share with MER members: network@mer-online.org.

• Karen Janovy, Curator of Education at the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, is interested in learning how other art museums are evaluating their programs.  Responses may be sent to Karen at kjanovy1@unlnotes.unl.edu.
• Congratulations go out to long-time MER member M. Christine Castle, of Hamilton, Ontario, who is this year’s recipient of the Ontario Museum Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award of Excellence!
• Tania Said is the new Curator of Education at the Ball State University Museum of Art (Muncie, Indiana).
• Nora Christie was recently elected to be Chair Elect for the Museum Division of the Texas Art Education Association.  She will be Chair beginning in November of 2006.  Victoria Ramirez, School Programs Manager at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston is the new Division Chair. 
• Wendy Wolf, Curator of Education at the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami reports that three elementary and middle schools in Miami-Dade County have forged strong partnerships with local area museums and cultural institutions in Miami-Dade County to develop Florida’s first museum magnet school programs.  Museum educators worked side by side with classroom teachers to interface the standards-driven curriculum with the objects and artifacts in their respective museums. This integrated curriculum, focusing primarily on object- and project-based learning, emphasizes problem-solving, communication, exploration, invention and inquiry through on-going visits to their museum and cultural partners.  The partnerships are:

• Southside Elementary School - Dade Heritage Trust; Historical Museum of Southern Florida; Miami Art Museum; and Miami Children’s Museum
• Miami Springs Middle School - Miami Museum of Science & Planetarium
• Shenandoah Middle School - Dade Heritage Trust; Historical Museum of Southern Florida; Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami; Miami Art Museum; and The Wolfsonian-FIU                 

A list of museum schools assembled by Claudia Ocello of the New Jersey Historical Society is available via the archives of the Museum-Ed Mailing List at http://www.museum-ed.org/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/archive/talk/20051104085500/

• Journal of Museum Education editor-in-chief Monica Smith, with her colleagues Gretchen Jennings and Tanya Garner, recently participated in the annual Festival della Scienza (Science Festival) in Genoa, Italy. The Smithsonian's Lemelson Center was invited to submit a proposal to the Festival earlier this year, and their plan to provide training for two hands-on workshops was accepted.  Jennings, Garner, and Smith conducted invention education training and provided support for approximately 30 Italian college students who are serving as facilitators for hands-on invention workshops during the festival, October 27-November 8, 2005. School groups and families from throughout Italy participated in the festival's more than 250 events in and around Genoa.