Director, University of Michigan Museum of Natural History

The University of Michigan's College of Literature, Science, and the Arts seeks applications for an inspiring and collaborative leader with a passion for science, education, equity, and inclusion to lead the University of Michigan Museum of Natural History. The director will be charged with maximizing the impact of a spectacular new museum facility at one of the world's preeminent public research universities and outstanding liberal arts colleges.

Position:  Director, Museum of Natural History
Reports to:  Associate Dean, Division of Undergraduate Education,
College of Literature, Science, and the Arts
Location:  University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Campus

Mission:  The University of Michigan Museum of Natural History transforms hearts and minds by promoting understanding of the natural world, our place in it, and our impact on it. We bring campus and community together in participatory and inclusive learning experiences to explore the processes of science and to address urgent global and local challenges.

Vision:  A world in which people understand the interconnectedness of all life and the responsibility we have to sustain it.

THE OPPORTUNITY
This is an exciting time for the U-M Museum of Natural History. With a stunning new facility, strong relationships with faculty, students, and the public, and a critical mission to encourage the public understanding of science and our rapidly changing natural world, UMMNH is ready to embark on a new strategic planning process to chart its future under the leadership of a new director. The University of Michigan is one of the world's leading public research universities, and our community works at the forefront of research, teaching, and innovation. With deep roots that stretch back to the founding of the university and international visibility, UMMNH has an opportunity to lead the science museum community in innovative practices to communicate and support the research and teaching activities of universities around the world.

The Museum Director is responsible for delivering on UMMNH's mission by working with staff and collaborative partners to advance programming, exhibits, and facilities objectives. The Director will also work with donors, community partners, and university colleagues to ensure the financial sustainability of UMMNH and to build strategic alliances to achieve the museum's goals.

This full-time Professional and Administrative position works closely with the museum's staff, advisory board, and College of Literature, Science, and the Arts leadership to increase the quality and reach of the museum's campus and public programs. Though still in a start-up phase of expanding its revenue-generating activities and understanding the expenses associated with the new facility, UMMNH's operating budget was $2M in FY23, which ended June 30, 2023 (facilities expenses are not included). UMMNH earns or raises approximately half of its annual budget through a wide range of revenue-generating activities (program fees, development, museum store, grant funds, etc.).  UMMNH has 15 full-time and three part-time regular staff positions in addition to 60-70 student docent employees. The position is accountable for the leadership of mission, goals, and operations.

Diversity, equity, inclusion, access, and accessibility will continue to be an essential priority for the museum. All U-M units have been asked to develop new unit DEI plans to support the University of Michigan's forthcoming DEI 2.0 efforts. UMMNH has made important strides in expanding access to the museum, but has more work to do in diversifying its staff in terms of race and ethnicity. This will be an important priority for the next director.

The next director will follow the current director who is retiring after 23 years in the position. The new director will inherit a creative and hard-working team of staff who are passionate about the museum and its mission.  

New Facility: In 2018, UMMNH left the much-beloved 90-year old Ruthven Museums Building and moved next door into the award-winning new Biological Sciences Building (BSB). In the BSB, the museum is integrated with laboratories and teaching spaces of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology. With all new exhibits and programs and a state-of-the-art Planetarium & Dome Theater, the new museum delights and engages both new and long-time visitors. UMMNH's 45,000 square feet feel much larger, as the public museum winds through the BSB's 312,000 square feet, providing access to the two light-filled five-story atria, with opportunities to look into the research areas of the building.

The COVID-19 pandemic shut down the museum's in-person visitation for 16 months, driving the museum to develop a robust online presence. Now fully reopened, UMMNH drew more than 150,000 guests in the most recently completed fiscal year.

Strategic Direction: UMMNH has made great strides in strategically connecting the museum more closely to the University and LSA's research and teaching missions, in addition to its long-standing public outreach mission. The new museum puts scientific research on display, through windows onto real working labs as well as hands-on labs for the public, and regularly changing exhibits highlighting current U-M research.  UMMNH has developed a robust program supporting faculty NSF research proposals through Broader Impacts activities, and offers a competitive Science Communication Fellows Program for faculty, PhD students, and postdocs. Science Communication training activities have expanded to serve undergraduates and high school students, including a formal Science Communication course. Expansion of these partnerships with research is an important goal for the coming years.

The museum welcomes more than two thousand U-M students in classes each year, and emphasizes undergraduate engagement through special programming. Over 60+ years, the museum's Student Docent Program has supported thousands of students through paid work experiences at the museum. Some of these students describe the experience as being transformative, and many have become generous donors to the museum later in life.

History and Campus Connections: The University of Michigan Museum of Natural History traces its origins back nearly two centuries to the founding of the State of Michigan and U-M's Ann Arbor campus in 1837. In its initial session, the state legislature called for the establishment at U-M of a Cabinet of Natural History. By the 1840s, natural history collections were on display for the benefit of both students and the public. As such, the displays constituted the first public museum in the state.

The 1881 University Museum Building was constructed to house the growing collections, which soon exceeded that space. Through the advocacy of Alexander Grant Ruthven, curator of herpetology and director of the University Museum, a new University Museums Building was built, opening in 1928. In the 1950s, the building was renamed in Ruthven's honor.

Under Ruthven's leadership, the University Museum was divided into separate disciplinary research collections. This configuration has continued to the present day, with four separate research museums, not open to the public:  Museum of Anthropological Archaeology, the University of Michigan Herbarium, the Museum of Paleontology, and the Museum of Zoology. These world-class natural science research collections, numbering close to 20M objects, are now housed at the Research Museums Center.

In 1956, the increasingly vigorous work around the public displays and related educational activities led to the creation of the public-facing 'Exhibit Museum, renamed the University of Michigan Museum of Natural History (UMMNH) in 2011. UMMNH is administratively separate from the research museums, which have academic leadership. There is frequent collaboration within the cluster of natural science museums. With no curators of its own, UMMNH benefits from the expertise of the research museums' curators and collections managers, and borrows objects for display, providing a window onto collections-based research for the benefit of students and the public. UMMNH houses and cares for a collection of about 6,500 specimens, artifacts, and models, roughly half for educational purposes, and half for display.

UMMNH and the research museums are units in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. UMMNH is part of the Division of Undergraduate Education. The research museums are housed in the departments of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Anthropology.