Queensborough Community College
ACADEMIC PROGRAM REVIEW
RESPONSE AND ACTION PLAN FOR DEGREE PROGRAMS
Program reviewed:
Gallery and Museum Studies, A.S.
Date of site visit:
May 6-7, 2014
QCC Review Committee:
Dr. Jung Joon Lee, Art and Design
QCC Department Chair
Prof. Bob Rogers, Art and Design
Administrative Support:
Dr. Arthur Corradetti, Dean
Strategic Planning, Assessment, and
Institutional Effectiveness
Dr. Elisabeth Lackner, Director
Institutional Research and Assessment
External Reviewer:
Gary Alan Wood, Director
Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts
Fairfield University
Report to be presented to the Vice President for Academic Affairs
1. Corrections to reviewers’ report
None
2. Major conclusions of academic program review
Program Strengths
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The Gallery and Museum Studies Program at QCC is a unique program within the City
University of New York. It is both enhanced and supported by the strong Studio Art and Art
History curricula in the Art and Design Department. Small class sizes enable individual
guidance and advisement to students.
Students gain hands-on experience at the QCC Art Gallery and the Kupferberg Holocaust
Resource Center through their semester-long internships; they work closely with the
curators and directors, touching on almost every aspect of museum-related tasks.
Students can also find internship opportunities at the Queens Museum of Art and the Rubin
Museum through the Art and Design Department’s internship coordination overseen by
Prof. Elizabeth DiGiorgio.
Students have successfully transferred to programs at the University of Delaware, Brooklyn
College, Queens College, City College, and Columbia University.
Program Weaknesses
Enrollment has been decreasing, largely as a result of the current situation in the field of
museum studies and museum practices. Many museums and galleries across the nation have
been downsizing, while few prominent museums and commercial galleries have been expanding
and hiring. These museums and galleries require a B.A. or B.F.A. degree and, more often, an
M.A. degree in Art History or Arts Administration for entry-level positions.
Recommendations
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Better promote the advantages of low tuition and smooth transfer to Queens College to
potential students at college open houses and in CUNY materials. If funding permits, the
program may be advertised in college guide catalogues in print and online.
Develop new articulation agreements, including finalizing articulation with Hunter College.
Offer an online course to help increase student enrollment and attract students to register
for other on-campus courses. As a start, the Art and Design Department plans to develop an
online AR-803 Art Curating course to be offered beginning in fall 2014. An online class may
also make it possible to attract experienced part-time faculty in the field.
Redesign the curriculum over the next five years (offering an online course and three-hour,
three-credit courses etc.) to increase student enrollment and enhance the program.
Adoption of high impact practices other than writing-intensive strategies can also enrich the
curriculum, engaging students in more active learning.
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3.
Major conclusions of external reviewer
Major program strengths
1. Faculty – Faculty offer students the crucial and contemporary information of an exciting,
evolving field of study in a highly-informative, well-organized and supportive learning
environment.
2. Facilities – Classroom facilities and on-campus galleries, museum and arts center provide
strong, hands-on learning opportunities.
3. Location and regional opportunities – Queens has its own historic reputation for distinctive
and exhilarating arts activity, with numerous individuals and organizations of national and
international distinction. Affiliation of the A.S. degree program with such notable entities is
invaluable to growing its own reputation and capacities.
4. International and culturally-diverse student body – The international nature of the student
body is a very special asset to the program.
Major program weaknesses
1. Program name – While the program’s current name is industry appropriate, it does not
convey the inventive, hands-on, management/leadership, and contemporary flair
characteristic of the profession today. A process of name change will create substantial
opportunity to entice greater enrollment and re-brand it within the industry as a fresh and
innovative training program.
2. Advising – There appears to be a gap in knowledge about the program and all that it has to
offer within the advising program. Advisors need to be fully informed and equipped to
comprehensively and effectively convey the program’s benefits and its inherent creative,
fulfilling nature. Periodic discussions and training with the program’s faculty—and tips from
students within the program—are advised.
3. Low enrollment – Low enrollment denies students within the program to interact with
others to test their ideas, share experiences and work in teams.
4. College support – It is imperative that the financial and management resources are made
available to launch and sustain a strategic and marketing initiative designed to raise
attention to the program’s uniqueness and increase enrollment.
Recommendations
1. Create and launch a three-year strategic plan for the program that clearly reflects the
program’s unique and exciting characteristics, along with the additional objectives:
a. Established goals for:
i. Student enrollment
ii. Degree completion college and university affiliations
iii. Gallery and museum collaborators
iv. Innovative marketing plans to extensively promote a new name for the
program
b. Marketing strategies that more creatively tell the program’s story, particularly for
the college’s advising team
c. Clear, lofty and reachable goals in strengthening and enhancing all areas of the
program’s long-term future.
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2. Create video testimonials of students, faculty and industry leaders to enhance the program’s
online presence as a means of speaking directly to potential students about the program’s
many benefits and highlights.
3. Formulate at least one formal and ongoing partnership with an appropriate gallery or
museum in Queens, Brooklyn or Manhattan that makes available and accessible its
management practices and activities for the students and the curriculum.
4. Work with a high-profile arts partner (gallery and/or museum) in the design of an online
course, so that much of the curriculum is built on a vibrant and existing entity.
5. With regard to classrooms, develop ready-access to “tour” various museums and galleries
via the Internet, increasingly more available, including the technology to support.
6. Closely examine the mission and teaching + learning approach of Vermont College of Fine
Arts, as adult learners are a prime market for growing the program. Its low-residency
methodology may have an equivalent at QCC for artists wishing to return to college training
to enter the management side of the field.
7. Under the list of potential careers on the website (Career – Gallery and Museum Studies),
consider including an option specific to art galleries, as the mission and general activities of
a gallery differ significantly from that of a museum.
8. Market the program with attention to the program’s key attributes:
a. Highly credentialed instructors
b. Access to hands-on learning opportunities on campus and throughout the city
c. Individualized learning designed to help each learner find their “own unique
artistic/management voice”
d. Comprehensive training in all the fundamentals of museum and gallery
management
9. In addition to Queens College, formulate two more articulation agreements with highly
recognized universities, particularly institutions that through association validate the QCC
program’s stature.
10. Make use of an exhibit space for students that they independently govern so that they are
exposed to the entirety of the exhibit planning and execution process. Even a small exhibit
space—in an office, cafeteria, or hallway—is sufficient for this purpose.
4. Proposed action plan and timetable (next five years)
A. General
The major goal over the next five years is to increase enrollment in the degree program. This
effort will include new marketing strategies, articulation agreements, and other educational
partnerships. More specific action items include:
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Develop a marketing strategy that capitalizes on the uniqueness of the two-year
program and the transfer options for students (e.g., promotional videos)
Institute faculty advisement for all students in the degree program in collaboration with
Academy advisers
Develop additional articulation agreements (finalize articulation agreement with Hunter
College)
Expand collaboration with the Queens Museum Education Department
Develop other educational partnerships (galleries, museums)
Develop an online ARTH 150 (will be ready for spring 2015)
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B. Assessment
Below is a multi-year timetable for the assessment of major courses in the degree program:
Semester
Courses
Assessment
2014-2015
AR 801: Art
Administration
Using the Curricular Objectives listed below,
develop rubric to assess whether students
demonstrate knowledge of major aspect of arts
administration:
During Sp14
develop
rubrics to
implement in
Fa14.
During Fa14
develop
rubrics to
implement in
Sp15.
AR 803: Art Curating
AR 804: The Business
of Art
 Demonstrate knowledge of the varied functions of
an art institution
 Utilize the gallery/museum collection for research
 Use information management and technology skills
effectively for varied tasks of art administration
 Demonstrate an understanding of arts
administration in regards to cataloging and handling
of artworks and assisting visitors
Develop rubric to assess whether students demonstrate
the ability to put together an exhibition for a
professional Gallery/Museum and differentiate and
make informed decisions about issues based on
curatorial responsibilities:
 Demonstrate knowledge of planning an exhibition
for a targeted audience in a gallery or museum
setting
 Utilize the gallery/museum collection for research
 Use information management and technology skills
effectively for proposing an exhibition
 Differentiate and make informed decisions about
issues based on curatorial responsibilities
 Demonstrate knowledge of exhibition design for
appropriate themes
Using the Curricular Objectives listed below, develop
rubric to assess whether students demonstrate
knowledge of the business structure of not-for-profit
art institutions and commercial galleries and
demonstrate critical thinking through the written
expression:
 Demonstrate knowledge of arts administration
 Demonstrate the ability to put together an
exhibition for a professional gallery or museum
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During Sp14
& Fa14 assess
Art History
courses
AR311: History of Art
I
AR312: History of Art
II
2015-2016
During Fa15
obtain
assessment
results from
Business
dept.
AR 901: Gallery
Internship I
AR 901: Gallery
Internship II
 Use information management and technology skills
effectively for budgeting and writing of a grant
project
 Demonstrate an understanding of the business of art
in regards to budgets, fundraising, and development
See Appendix, p. 56: AR 311 and 312 rubrics.
Develop rubric to assess whether students demonstrate
the ability to perform effectively tasks of curatorial and
registration procedures; exhibition installations; writing
and production of a catalog; and publicity:
 Demonstrate knowledge of and proficiency in
administrative tasks of galleries and museums
 Demonstrate efficiency in conducting curatorial
tasks to assist gallery and museum staff
 Demonstrate understanding of professional issues,
including legal and ethical concerns, business
practices and the importance of continuing their
education throughout their career.
BU 201: Business
Organization and
Management
2016-2017
Continue
assessing all
major courses
& aggregate
outcomes for
future
program
reviews
2018-2019
AR 801: Art
Administration
AR 803: Art Curating
AR 804: The Business
of Art
AR 901: Gallery
Internship I
AR 902: Gallery
Internship II
Program review
Faculty will evaluate aggregated data and assess
program.
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