Reports To: Director of Education & Special Projects

Department: Education

Division Lead: Chief Public Experience Officer

POSITION SUMMARY

The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, seeks to fill a Manager position to engage both families and students/teachers from area schools. The Manager of School and Family Programs is a position that entails specific knowledge of museum education theory, teaching and learning strategies, curriculum development, and community partnerships. This position will play a key role in visitor engagement by managing programs for inter-generational audiences, school students, and pre K-12 educators. This position spends extensive time in public areas with staff, volunteers, and visitors, with evening and weekend work required. The successful candidate will be highly organized, possess excellent interpersonal skills, and has experience working with professionals and programs aimed at 21st century learners.

ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES

Essential duties include the following. Other duties may be assigned.

  • Work with the Museum’s Director of Education & Special Projects to create, manage, and evaluate the Museum’s programming to engage and increase youth and family audiences.
  • Initiate, evaluate, and manage school programs and partnerships (pre K-12 students and teachers) by making the collections and facilities relevant and educational for a broad spectrum of students and teachers on-site, online, and in pre K-12 classrooms.
  • Develop professional development for pre K-12 teachers; launch regularly scheduled Teacher Workshops and Teacher Institutes.
  • Develop, promote, coordinate, and manage school break week activities, birthday parties, and Museum summer camps.
  • Create and manage monthly family activities on Saturdays.
  • Incorporate knowledge of best teaching practices; project-based work; developmental, cognitive, and social skills; learning theories; educational evaluation; and 21st-century learning skills into program offerings with and for teachers and students.
  • Develop formal and informal evaluation tools for ongoing assessment of learning outcomes.
  • Share guidance and support to prepare Museum docents and contract educators to teach student programs in the galleries.
  • Think strategically about revamping, phasing, and implementing school and family programs aligned with the Museum’s Interpretative Master Plan.
  • With other staff, manage administrative functions related to these programs: budget development, grant writing when necessary, reporting and tracking; program statistics; stakeholder database.
  • Represent the Museum externally with professional organizations and partners in the community; participate in professional development to remain informed regarding new research and practice, to develop new skills and enhance existing skills. National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, Oklahoma City, OK

SKILLS/QUALIFICATIONS

  • Master’s degree in Education, Art History, Humanities, History, Social Sciences, or related field
  • At least two years of experience as a museum educator or education administrator in a visual arts and/or history museum
  • Excellent written, oral, and interpersonal communication skills
  • Outgoing personality with strong interpersonal skills, tact, diplomacy, and ability to lead and direct volunteers
  • Work effectively with a wide range of constituencies in a diverse community
  • Teacher certification and/or bilingual (English/Spanish) skills are a plus

TO APPLY

Please submit a cover letter with pay requirements, resume, writing portfolio and three references to Manager of Human Resources, at hr@nationalcowboymuseum.org. No phone calls, please.

Hiring decisions are contingent on results of a background check.

ABOUT THE NATIONAL COWBOY & WESTERN HERITAGE MUSEUM

The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum is a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization accredited by the American Alliance of Museums (AAM). Home to one of the nation’s foremost collections dedicated to historic and contemporary Western and American Indian art and material culture, the Museum has served the public since its opening in 1965. The Museum Campus is situated on over 30 acres atop the Persimmon Hill District in rapidly growing and affordable Oklahoma City, the state’s capital and largest city. It includes the main 228,000 square foot building housing multiple galleries and interpretive areas, the Donald C. & Elizabeth M. Dickinson Research Library and Archive, and the Sam Noble Special Event Center, in addition to outdoor sculpture gardens, event grounds, and ample parking. This iconic cultural and educational institution has seen over 12 million visitors from across the nation and globe over its first half-century of operation and remains one of Oklahoma’s and the region’s primary tourist destinations. Entering its next half-century, the Museum now embarks upon an ambitious multi-year plan to establish itself as the preeminent cultural and educational institution dedicated to the American West and its place within the broader national identity and culture. The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum is located only six miles northeast of downtown Oklahoma City in the Adventure District at the junction of Interstates 44 and 35, the state’s exciting Adventure Road corridor. The Museum offers annual memberships beginning at just $40. For more information, visit www.nationalcowboymuseum.org.

MISSION STATEMENT

The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum preserves and interprets the evolving history and cultures of the American West for the education & enrichment of its diverse audiences of both adults and children.