Museum Educator, Community Engagement

About the Role

The Museum Educator, Community Engagement is a key member of the Smart Museum of Art’s education team. This role develops, leads, and manages all community tours for the Museum, spearheads the Museum’s internship program, and launches a new student gallery guide program. The position collaborates closely with the Museum Educator, K-12 to integrate student gallery guides into K-12 tours and family programs. Reporting to the Director of the Feitler Center for Academic Inquiry and Head of Education, this full-time, benefits-eligible position manages student-focused programs, integrates students into the Museum’s tour offerings, maintains workflows and assessment practices, and supervises student employees and interns.

Responsibilities

• Develops and leads public tours for community groups and the general public in collaboration with the student gallery guide program.
• Provides support for K-12 tours and public programs as needed.
• Serves as administrative lead and manager of the Student Gallery Guide Program, training UChicago students to support tours and programs for community/public groups and K-12.
• Recruits, trains, supervises, evaluates, and mentors student gallery guides.
• Creates training curricula, facilitation strategies, and tour frameworks grounded in inquiry-based learning and object-centered teaching.
• Partners with the Museum Educator, K-12 and Family Programs to equip students to support K-12 school tours.
• Oversees scheduling and management systems for student guides supporting tours, class visits, public programs, and special events.
• Acts as administrative lead and manager of the Smart’s undergraduate internship program, including recruitment, onboarding, training, supervision, evaluation, and professional development.
• Develops and implements meaningful experiential learning opportunities connecting students to museum practice, arts leadership, and interdisciplinary inquiry.
• Collaborates with departments across the Museum to identify and support internship projects aligned with institutional priorities.
• Creates structures for reflection, mentorship, cohort-building, and professional skill development.
• Builds partnerships with academic departments, career services, and campus offices to increase awareness of student opportunities at the Museum.
• Maintains current knowledge of best practices in experiential learning, museum education, and student development.
• Partners with Registration to support the Art to Live With student acquisition program.
• Represents the Smart Museum at campus events, orientations, student fairs, and other University initiatives.
• Maintains program budgets, records, schedules, and project documentation.
• Conducts assessment and evaluation of student engagement initiatives and prepares reports on outcomes and impact.
• Collaborates with Museum staff to develop promotional and interpretive content related to the student guides program and internship programs.
• Assists with grant reporting, fundraising materials, and institutional storytelling related to student engagement.
• Performs other related work as needed.

Requirements

• College or university degree in a related field.
• 2–5 years of work experience in a related job discipline.

Qualifications

• Advanced degree in museum education, art history, higher education administration, public humanities, or a related field.
• Background working in a museum, university museum, arts organization, or higher education setting.
• Experience designing experiential learning or leadership development programs.
• Experience working directly with college students and student organizations.
• Familiarity with assessing educational outcomes and program impact.

Skills

• Demonstrated commitment to student-centered learning and experiential education.
• Strong ability to build relationships with students, faculty, staff, and community partners.
• Excellent facilitation, mentorship, and coaching skills.
• Commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, and fostering a workplace of belonging.
• Exceptional written and oral communication skills.
• Strong project management, organizational, and problem-solving abilities.
• Ability to work independently while collaborating effectively across departments.
• Understanding of higher education environments and the role of museums in supporting student success.

Pay

$62,000.00 - $66,000.00 per year.

Benefits

The University of Chicago offers a wide range of benefits programs and resources for eligible employees, including health, retirement, and paid time off. Information about the benefit offerings can be found in the Benefits Guidebook.