Mellon Professional Development Lecture Comes to a Close with Dr. Michelle Wilkinson

The National Museum of African American History and Culture‘s Mellon Professional Development lecture series came to a close on Wednesday, July 27th. Dr. Michelle Wilkinson, Museum Curator at NMAAHC, gave the final lecture “A Century in the Making; Building of the National Museum of African American History and Culture,” which will be one of the inaugural exhibitions in SI’s newest museum. Over 40 interns, fellows and staff were in attendance from a variety of SI units. Since the Mellon Professional Development lecture series began two years ago, NMAAHC has sponsored six presentations containing a wealth of information for SI interns and fellows to better their understanding of the policies, practices, and processes of museum professions. The Mellon series was developed at SI by Dr. Anita Nahal of NMAAHC, who started the program in 2014.

Professional Development Initiative Lectures 2014-2016:

• “Transitioning from inter/fellow to a museum careerist”: Omar Eaton-Martinez, Intern and Fellows Program Manager, NMAH
• “Applying on USAjobs.gov”: Shelly Boddie, HR Specialist, NMAAHC
• “How, and on what are presentations critiqued?” by Mary Elliott, Museum Specialist, NMAAHC
• “Sharing Unexpected or Difficult Information: I Always Thought…” by Renee Anderson, Head of Collections, NMAAHC
• “Theory and Method of Artifact Study”: Aaron Bryant, Curator of Photography, NMMAHC and Nona Martin, Public Program Mananger, SAAM
• “A Century in the Making; Building the National Museum of African American History and Culture”: Michelle Wilkinson, Museum Curator, NMAAHC