Museum Studies to be offered Fall 2009
By Vincent Millsap, News writing Student
The Oklahoma City Museum of Art, the National Cowboy of Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Museum, and the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art will provide the classroom for a humanities course in Museum Studies being offered the first eight weeks of the fall semester, said OCCC Professor Richard Rouillard.
The three-credit-hour class is called Museum Studies, HUM 2123-E01, and will run from 5:30 to 9 p.m. on Thursdays from August 27 through October 23. It will satisfy a humanities requirement for students in university-parallel programs.
“It will be eight weeks of concentrated fine-tooth combing of museum operations,” Rouillard said. “Students will learn why they value what they value.”
He explained that museums contain artifacts of the past, and these artifacts reveal past perceptions of a civilization and its way of life.
“Students who are interested in museums, and who want to learn how museums operate, will get hands-on experience, when taking this class,” Rouillard said.
Rouillard, along with Gus Pekara, director of the Downtown College Consortium, developed the idea of offering this class.
Rouillard is a retired English professor who worked full time at OCCC for 36 years in the Arts and Humanities Division. He has been an adjunct faculty member for the last year. He has also been a curator at OKCMOA since it moved into its current facility in 2002.
Other classes offered by Downtown College are Oklahoma in Film, and OKC Arts Alive, both humanities courses. The Downtown College is located at the Ronald J. Norwick Library/Learning Center, 300 Park Avenue, Oklahoma City, 73102. The Phone number is 405-232-3382. For more information contact Pekara at gpekara@downtowncollege.com, or Jimmie Sue Baker, secretary, at jbaker@downtowncollege.com.
