Director, Radford University Art Museum

Job Description

Radford University seeks a visionary, collaborative, and experienced museum professional to serve as Director of the Radford University Museum of Art. The Director will provide strategic leadership for the museum’s development, operations, collections, exhibitions, educational outreach, and campus and community engagement. This position will play a central role in shaping the museum’s identity and future, including the development of a formal mission statement, collections plan, exhibition strategy, educational programming, and partnerships with other arts organizations that support the university’s academic mission.

The Director will also contribute to the growth and development of Radford University’s Museum Studies program by supporting curriculum connections, student learning opportunities, internships, research projects, exhibitions, and professional preparation for students interested in museum, gallery, curatorial, arts administration, and cultural heritage careers.

Collaborate with staff, students, faculty and academic leadership to support and strengthen Radford University’s Museum Studies program. Currently, Radford has a major in Art History and Museum Studies (AHMS) as well as a minor in art history and a minor in museum studies. Students in the museum studies minor represent a variety of majors (history, anthropology, English, etc.) and take two core classes as well as an internship.

Over the span of these two core classes, provide students with hands-on learning experiences in curatorial practice, collections management, exhibition design, museum education, arts administration, public programming, and visitor engagement.
Coordinate student internships, practicums, research projects, and museum-based experiential learning for AHMS majors and museum studies minors.*
Advise students on course planning and goal setting. In addition, help prepare students for graduate study, professional museum work, gallery careers, nonprofit arts administration, and related fields.
Contribute to curriculum development, guest lectures, workshops, or courses as appropriate.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities
• Museum Leadership and Strategic Planning
• Provide overall leadership, vision, and administrative direction for the Radford University Museum of Art.
• Lead the development and implementation of the museum’s mission, goals, strategic plan, policies, and procedures.
• Establish priorities for exhibitions, collections, educational programming, outreach, donor and public engagement.
• Work collaboratively with university leadership, faculty, staff, students, alumni, donors, and community partners to advance the museum’s role within the university and region.
• Ensure that museum activities align with best practices in the museum field and support the educational mission of Radford University.
Collections Development and Stewardship
• Develop and implement a collections management plan, including policies for acquisition, deaccessioning, documentation, preservation, access, and ethical stewardship.
• Assess and strengthen the museum’s existing or emerging collection in alignment with the museum’s mission and academic priorities.
• Oversee staff and students and ensure responsible cataloging, care, storage, research, exhibition, and interpretation of the collection.
• Ensure compliance with professional museum standards, legal requirements, donor agreements, and university policies with the Contracts and Procurement Office, the Office of Advancement, the RU Foundation, and the general counsel.
• Identify opportunities to build and focus the collection through gifts, acquisitions, partnerships, and donor cultivation.
Exhibitions and Public Programming
• Develop and oversee a dynamic exhibition program that supports teaching, learning, research, creative practice, and community engagement.
• Curate or coordinate exhibitions featuring student, faculty, regional, national, and international artists and designers.
• Support exhibitions that reflect diverse histories, cultures, artistic practices, and contemporary issues.
• Collaborate with faculty in CVPA and across campus to integrate exhibitions into coursework across disciplines.
• Oversee exhibition planning, installation, interpretation, marketing, documentation, and evaluation.
Educational Outreach and Community Engagement
• Design and implement educational outreach programs for university students, K–12 audiences, educators, families, alumni, and the broader community.
• Build partnerships with local schools, community organizations, cultural institutions, and regional arts groups.
• Create opportunities for public lectures, workshops, tours, artist talks, symposia, and interdisciplinary programming.
• Promote the museum as a cultural and educational resource for Southwest Virginia and the broader region.
• Develop inclusive programming that expands access to the arts and encourages lifelong learning.
Support for Museum Studies Program
• Collaborate with staff, students, faculty and academic leadership to support and strengthen Radford University’s Museum Studies program.
• Provide students with hands-on learning experiences in curatorial practice, collections management, exhibition design, museum education, arts administration, public programming, and visitor engagement.
• Supervise or help staff and museum studies faculty to coordinate student internships, practicums, research projects, and museum-based experiential learning.
• Contribute to curriculum development, guest lectures, workshops, or courses as appropriate.
• Help prepare students for graduate study, professional museum work, gallery careers, nonprofit arts administration, and related fields.
Administration, Budgeting, and Operations
• Manage the museum’s daily operations, staffing, scheduling, facilities coordination, and administrative functions.
• Prepare and oversee budgets, grants, fundraising initiatives, and resource allocation.
• Develop procedures for museum operations, visitor services, security, collections access, and exhibition installation.
• Supervise museum staff, student workers, interns, volunteers, and contractors as assigned.
• Coordinate with university offices such as Facilities, Advancement, Marketing and Communications, Academic Affairs, and Risk Management.
Fundraising, Grants, and Donor Relations
• Work with university advancement staff to identify funding opportunities and cultivate donors, sponsors, alumni, and community supporters.
• Pursue grants and external funding to support exhibitions, collections care, educational outreach, student opportunities, and public programming.
• Develop donor stewardship strategies related to artwork gifts, named spaces, program sponsorships, and endowments.
• Represent the museum professionally to external partners, funders, cultural organizations, and the public.
Professional Standards and Accreditation
•Promote museum practices consistent with standards established by organizations such as the American Alliance of Museums, the Association of Academic Museums and Galleries, and other relevant professional bodies.
•Develop policies and documentation that may support future accreditation, assessment, or institutional review processes.
•Maintain an active membership and presence with the Virginia Association of Museums
•Maintain active engagement with current museum practices, university museum trends, ethical guidelines, and arts administration standards.

Required Qualifications

•Ph.D. in Museum Studies, Arts Administration, Art History, Curatorial Studies, Museum Education, Public Humanities, Cultural Heritage Studies, or a closely related field.
• Significant professional experience in a museum, gallery, university museum, cultural institution, or arts administration setting.
• Demonstrated experience with university art museums or academic museum environments.
• Knowledge of museum standards and best practices in collections management, exhibitions, educational programming, and public engagement.
• Experience developing or implementing mission statements, strategic plans, collections policies, exhibition programs, or educational outreach initiatives.
• Strong understanding of the role of museums in higher education.
• Demonstrated commitment to student learning, experiential education, and interdisciplinary collaboration.
• Excellent written, oral, organizational, and interpersonal communication skills.
• Ability to work collaboratively with faculty, students, administrators, artists, donors, community partners, and museum professionals.
• Commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, and ethical museum practice.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience directing or managing a university art museum, or comparable cultural institution.
• Experience supporting dedicated staff and teaching in a Museum Studies, Art History, Arts Administration, or related academic program. (Ph.D. required)
• Record of successful grant writing, fundraising, donor cultivation, or external partnership development.
• Experience building collections or developing collections management policies.
• Experience supervising staff, students, docents, interns, volunteers, or project teams.
• Familiarity with accreditation standards and professional guidelines for museums and art/design programs.
• Experience developing K–12, community, or regional outreach programs.
• Evidence of scholarly, curatorial, or professional contributions to the museum field.

Special Instructions to Applicants

Please submit a cover letter and resume

Radford University does not discriminate with regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, disability, age, veteran status, national origin, religion, or political affiliation in the administration of its educational programs, activities, admission or employment practices.