Museums of Science and Culture To Create Student Board

The Harvard Museums of Science and Culture are establishing an undergraduate student board tasked with promoting museum engagement at the College. The new board will consist of 16 selected undergraduates and will meet once a month at the different museums, with guest speakers and professors at its sessions.

According to Wendy Derjue-Holzer, the education director at the Museum of Natural History, the decision to move forward with a student board “definitely benefited” from conversations with staff at other University departments that already had student boards, including the student outreach and program coordinator at the Harvard Art Museums.

Derjue-Holzer emphasized that the Museums of Science and Culture seek applications for student board membership from undergraduates of all academic backgrounds and concentrations, rather than only students from fields of study related to the museums.

Derjue-Holzer said she hopes the new student board will learn how the museums can make an impact on students' experience outside of the classroom.

“The best way to see how we serve Harvard College is to have students come help us,” she said, adding that student involvement would aid the museums augment student outreach efforts.

Potential inaugural projects include a signature student event at the Semitic Museum and an initiative for accepted students to visit the museums during Visitas, according to Derjue-Holzer.

Faculty and staff at the Museums of Science and Culture first proposed the establishment of a student board in early 2014.

The Harvard Museums of Science and Culture, a partnership officially established in 2012, consists of the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, the Harvard Museum of Natural History, the Harvard Semitic Museum, and the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology.

—Staff writer Kristina D. Lorch can be reached at klorch@college.harvard.edu.