POSITION: Postdoctoral Fellowship, Museum Practice

REPORTS TO: Director of Education, Mississippi Museum of Art; and Chair of the Art Department, Millsaps College

STATUS: Full-time, two-years beginning in the 2025-2026 academic year, to be shared equally between the Mississippi Museum of Art and Millsaps College

Job Summary

The Mississippi Museum of Art (MMA) and Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi, jointly seek a candidate for a two-year postdoctoral fellowship beginning in August 2025. The fellow will teach one class at Millsaps each fall and spring, and at the Museum, will participate in the efforts of the Department of Academic Affairs, collaborating with the Museum’s two Post-Baccalaureate Fellows and Post-Masters Fellow.

The fellow will support students’ learning through developing community-engaged projects at MMA and other sites and will facilitate opportunities for students to study works in the Museum’s collection. The fellow will also serve as a convener for colleagues in Mississippi’s college and university community, providing faculty with opportunities to connect their coursework to MMA exhibitions through object-based learning. Demonstrated experience in museum and academic settings is required and combined curatorial and teaching experience is preferred. A list of essential job functions is below.

Essential Functions

• Teaching one class in art history or applied museum practice (such as exhibition design, collections management, etc.) in the Fall of 2025 and one class in the Spring of 2026 at Millsaps College.
• Training Millsaps College student interns to work at the MMA, the Hall Art Gallery at Millsaps, and other community sites in Jackson.

• Participate in projects for the Department of Academic Affairs, including developing community-engaged learning opportunities for Millsaps students and the Museum’s cross-departmental interns.
• Convening multi-disciplinary faculty from Mississippi college and universities for biannual higher education learning institutes.
• Developing a strategy for making the Permanent Collection more accessible to faculty and students, including the development of a teaching gallery connected to college curriculum.
• Developing scholarly initiatives in collaboration with the curatorial and education departments.
• Supporting the Director of Education as needed with long-term strategy, funding proposals, and relationship cultivation for the Department of Academic Affairs.

Supervisory

• None

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• PhD in Art History, Museum Studies, or a related field and a minimum of 2 years of related museum or gallery work, including curatorial experience at a public institution.
• Familiarity with art techniques, care of works of art, cataloguing systems, and collection storage.
• Computer skills in basic word processing and database programs.
• Evidence of effective teaching experience (sample syllabi and/or student evaluations).
• Ability to teach online if necessary.
• Ability to work with faculty, students, colleagues, volunteers, and the public.
• Effective academic and popular writing skills 

Travel

The fellowship includes a travel stipend to attend one museum or academic conference each year.

Physical Demands and Work Environment

The physical demands and work environment characteristics described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. Some duties may require long periods of movement. Work may be performed indoors and outdoors in different weather conditions.

Compensation

• This position is full-time (40 hours per week) and will be exempt/salaried.
• The salary will be within budgeted levels depending on experience in the range of $55,000 – $60,000.
• The position is eligible for the Museum's benefits package on the first of the month following 30 days of full-time employment. Benefits include paid time off (vacation, sick, holiday, jury duty, bereavement), and medical and dental benefits.

Selection Process

We are preferentially seeking applicants who have some level of art historical knowledge and/or expertise in a field which is generally of relevance to the collections of the Museum and the curriculum of the College’s art department.

Fellows will be approved by a search committee consisting of the Museum’s Director of Education, Chief Curator, and Millsaps College’s Chair of the Art Department and professors of art history and studio art.

Application Process

Application materials should include a letter of application, contact information for two references, current CV (Curriculum Vitae), statement of teaching philosophy, evidence of teaching experience (sample syllabi and student evaluations, if available), and a writing sample, sent by email to Ruthie Massey, Chief Operating Officer, Mississippi Museum of Art, rmassey@msmuseumart.org, and to Sarah Williams, Co-Chair of the Art Department, Millsaps College, willisj@millsaps.edu. The search committee will begin reviewing complete applications on February 10, 2025, and will continue until the position is filled. Employment is contingent on a completed background verification. The application process will end April 30, 2025.

About the Mississippi Museum of Art

The Museum is an Equal Opportunity Employer and is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment. The Museum is a private not-for-profit and is not a department or agency of the state or federal government.

The Mississippi Museum of Art is more than an art museum in Jackson, Mississippi. It is a museum of Mississippi – a museum that connects Mississippians to our culture, our history, our communities, and to each other. It is a museum informed by the legacy of our past and emboldened by a vision of a future without division.

We believe it is our responsibility to the community to explore and examine every facet of the Mississippi story. The Mississippi Museum of Art is committed to curating a shared space for every Mississippian – a brave space where we can all find wonder, peace, and a voice.

We pride ourselves in being a visitor and community-focused art museum and garden in downtown Jackson, Mississippi. The Museum employs a collaborative staff that works to ensure the exhibitions, programs, operations, and community outreach fulfill the mission, vision, and core values of the institution. We are committed to building a culture of inclusivity that includes continued professional development opportunities at all levels of the Museum.

Mission

The Mississippi Museum of Art connects Mississippi to the world, and the power of art to the power of community.

Vision

Committed to honesty, equity, and inclusion, the Mississippi Museum of Art is a leader in engaging art, artists, and participants in the critical work of reckoning with the past, connecting with each other in the present, and thinking how museums will work with their communities in the future.

Core Values

• Artworks + Artists: Museum programs recognize artworks as primary sources of meaning and explore them in the context of their creation and creators; the Museum builds relationships with artists, amplifies their voices through exhibitions, and engages them with new audiences.
• Warm Welcome + Inclusion: The Museum models gratitude and hospitality for all people and demonstrates inclusiveness at all levels of its operations and programs; everything, from the exhibitions to the gardens, is thoughtfully designed to prioritize accessibility, ensuring that everyone can participate fully. The Museum will model open hospitality for all people and will demonstrate inclusiveness at all levels of its operations and programs.
• Excellence + Equity: Museum programs, exhibitions, and collections place artistic value as central and simultaneously challenge traditional hierarchies of genre and style.
• Local Relevance + National Importance: The Museum facilitates investigations into Mississippi’s cultural histories that resonate with Jacksonians and Mississippians; the resulting programs hold up a mirror to the world, attracting local and national partners who seek to explore our shared histories.
• Honesty + Diversity: Honoring diverse viewpoints, histories, and lived experiences, the Museum is a place for honest conversations that explore power and privilege in services of learning, understanding, and empathy.
• Trust + Exchange: The Museum believes accurate interpretation of artworks depends on lived experience as well as scholarship. The Museum invites intellectual exchange between the audiences, staff, and artists who create exhibitions and deepen their meaning through their exploration.
• Resilience + Sustainability: Museum operations and facilities are designed with attention to the present and future needs of visitors and environment alike; recognizing the increasing need for adaptability in the face of uncertainty, the Museum prioritizes strength, adaptability, and growth.

Employee Values

A successful member of the Museum’s team will be mission-driven, welcoming, inclusive, respectful, empathetic, ambitious, will bring a level of excellence to their work, have a high respect for artists and artistic integrity, and will collaborate within their department and with other departments.