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The UMTWS 2018 began today!

 

On April 11th, the University Museums Training Week Shanghai 2018 (UMTWS 2018), co-organized by University Museums and Collections (UMAC) of International Council of Museums (ICOM), National Educational Alliance of University and College Museum (NEAUCM), Shanghai Educational Alliance of University and College Museums (SEAUCM), and Qian Xuesen Library & Museum of Shanghai Jiao Tong University (QLM-SJTU), was officially opened at Qian Xuesen Library & Museum. The opening ceremony ended up with an extremely vibrant and heated panel discussion themed on “University Museums: Striving towards Excellence”. The experts of university museums from various countries delved into in-depth dialogues in the discussion. Fresh perspectives are presented and debated for the future development of university museums in China. 

Learn more.

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Weisman Art Museum at the University of Minnesota Forges New Relationships with University’s Medical School

Boris Oicherman, WAM’s Ihlenfeld Curator for Creative Collaboration, and Academic Health Center’s Director of Infectious Disease Center Timothy Schacker have proposed and received approval from the medical school (Academic Health Center) Dean JakubTolar and WAM (Weisman Art Museum) Director Lyndel King to proceed with developing a platform for incorporating the arts in the Academic Health Center.

Academic Health Center and Weisman Art Museum will collaborate on establishing a platform for sustainable, long-term collaborative relationships of artists and researchers dedicated to developing innovative approaches to healthcare. Short-term (1-2 years) objectives:
Establish a number of collaborative relationships between artists and researchers that will provide a basis for creating a long-term program. Special attention will be given to developing sustainable models of support for the arts at AHC that go beyond fixed-term grants and projects. Three projects have been identified as the first to be explored.
• Artist Peng Wu collaborates with Prof. Michael Howell, a researcher of sleep, to combine artistic and scientific perspectives on how to enhance and improve sleep therapy.
• Dancer and choreographer Anna Marie Shogren engages with the Center for Aging Science & Care Innovation at the Nursing School to research how dancers and caregivers can collaborate on developing better care protocols for patients.
• Artist Alyson Hiltner works with biological matter and life forms as with her sculptural material. She would develop a conversation with Prof. Paul Laizzo (Visible Heart Lab) and Brenda Ogle (Bioengineering) to establish a broad platform for biological arts in the AHC.

WAM’s Education Director, Jamee Yung, has been asked by AHC Assistant Dean for Curriculum Ann Pereira to be part of the planning team for updating the medical school curriculum. AHC is particularly interested in using fine arts to enhance visual diagnostic skills. Jamee’s expertise is a perfect fit. She trains students and teachers in developing observational skills that help make meaning from works of art. These are the same skills necessary for diagnosis. Research at the Yale University has established that using experiences with artworks is successful in developing diagnostic skills in medical students. Jamee has worked with a few medical school classes over the last few years, but this update would integrate WAM’s program into the curriculum.

These projects could make the U of MN AHC one of the leaders in innovative medical education.

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2018 CAUMAC Symposium

Reframing university collections — Research Infrastructure

ANU, Canberra, Australia

Call for Papers

The Council of Australian University Museums and Collections is currently calling for proposals for our symposium to be held at the Australian National University on April 6. 

While the symposium is primarily a way for us to gauge the Australian experience of this issue, we also welcome international perspectives.  Even if you are not able to attend the symposium, we’d love to hear responses to these questions from your part of the world. We’d be interested in putting together a document to be made available at the symposium that gives an international perspective.

So recasting the symposium questions for an international audience:-

  1. How have universities dealt with the issue of legacy collections?
  2. What are the advantages and pitfalls of valuing legacy collections based on their potential for new research?
  3. How do you manage a collection to be ready for research that might currently be unforeseeable
  4. What does this mean for collections whose research potential is unknown?

We welcome the thoughts of university curators, researchers, professional staff, administrative staff, university leaders and students who would like to help shape our thinking on this issue.

Read more.

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New MSc in Modern Material Artefacts, University of Glasgow, UK

This programme engages with historical and scientific concepts and practices for the interpretation, investigation and preservation of museum and archive collections. It is designed to enable you to become proficient in object-based techniques from art history, material science and conservation for the interdisciplinary study of commercial synthetic materials in applied arts and social history collections. A key strength of this programme is its focus on modern materials as common artefacts that includes fibres and colourants as well as plastics. Read more.

Starts September 2018.