UNI Museums Updates
Posted 5/3/12
- As of July 1, the University Museum building on Hudson Road will be closed to the public. At that time, the administration of the UNI Museums will move from the Division of Continuing Education to the Rod Library.
- Moving forward, the scope of activity for the Museums will be reduced. The mission of the Museums will shift to a focus on serving on-campus constituents (rather than serving both on-campus and community audiences). Therefore, we will continue to serve as an academic resource to faculty and departments through exhibitions, internships for students, and lectures for UNI classes, but educational programming designed for the general public and regional PreK-12 schools will be discontinued for the foreseeable future.
- The collection will be maintained and managed by qualified staff. Dr. Grosboll will continue to serve as the Museums Director until her full retirement in January 2013. Three of the five staff members will continue as Museums employees.
- The focus of work in the short term will be on refining the collection. This work will continue in the present building as we evaluate and deaccession some objects. Ethical and legal standards of museum practice will be followed.
- The refinement process will be guided by the goal of retaining the best objects in the collection that also meet the campus academic mission. This means that the world cultures materials and items related to Iowa education (rural school and campus history) will be maintained, while the biology and geology collections will be scaled back to the highest quality exhibition specimens.
- We hope to engage UNI student interns, faculty, and emeritus faculty in the refinement process and to provide valuable learning experience for students while working alongside faculty.
- Efforts are underway to identify appropriate space for the refined sub-collections. An exhibition gallery space to continue changing exhibits will be sought on campus.
- We will continue to pursue opportunities to collaborate with local museums and similar organizations.
The Museums Faculty Advisory Committee and the Friends of the UNI Museums will be asked to provide assistance with the transition. Others will be invited to assist in finding appropriate space on campus for exhibitions, storage, and work space and to provide advice on the evaluation and disposition of the sub-collections. Our goal is to reestablish the Museums on campus in locations that can best serve faculty and student needs.
UNI Museums Contact:
Sue Grosboll, Director
319-273-2188 or sue.grosboll@uni.edu
