“Curating Identities: Reflections on Self, Community and Youth Cultures at Harvard” Harvard Graduate School of Education, Askwith Lecture Hall, Longfellow Hall, Monday, October 6, 4:30 – 5:30 p.m.

AIE 2007 graduate Simone Monique Barnes, assistant curator at Harvard’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, and Steve Seidel, director of the AIE program, moderate a discussion of REMIX, the Peabody exhibit that addresses Native youth identity through contemporary art within the contexts of Ivy League institutions and the United States’ oldest anthropology museum. With Harvard undergraduate student curators Tanner Amdur-Clark and LeRenzo Tolbert-Malcolm.

“Still Flies in the Buttermilk? The Struggle for Diversity in Museums,” Chair, New England Museum Association (NEMA) Annual Conference, 2008
Search for literature on diversity and museums and you’ll inevitably get a reference to “Flies in the Buttermilk,” the essay by Lonnie Bunch (now director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture) on the struggle for diversity in the museum profession. Since that article’s publication in 2000, are museum staff members of color still flies in the buttermilk? With the creation of the Committee for Diversity in Museums in 2004, the American Association of Museum’s first new standing professional committee in 20 years, now is a good time to reflect on where we are, as New England museums, on how our staffing practices mirror the push to appeal to diverse audiences, and how we are developing a new generation of leaders to reflect the balance that we seek.
Chair: Simone Monique Barnes, EdM, Visiting Administrative Fellow, Assistant Curator, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, MA

“Civic Education and Social Transformation: Goodridge v. Department of Public Health (The Case for Same-Sex Marriage in Massachusetts): A Lesson in Community Power, Decision Making and Education,” Roundtable Presentation, Student Research Conference, Harvard Graduate School of Education, Gutman Library, February 2007
What lessons in community power, decision-making, and education can be extracted from Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, the landmark case on same-sex civil marriage in Massachusetts? How can this case, and the social movements surrounding it, be used as a teaching tool for grassroots social action and civic education?

Encouraged to Speak: An Orange Ribbon’s Impact on Motivation, Collaboration and Social Interaction Amongst Museum Visitors,Poster Presentation, Roundtable Presentation, Student Research Conference, Harvard Graduate School of Education, Gutman Library, February 2007
How does providing a visible and removable sign (an orange ribbon) of an adult museum visitor’s willingness to engage in conversation with other adult visitors impact their interaction, conversation, learning, and enjoyment? A museum visitor behavior study conducted at the MFA, Boston, exploring social interaction, collaborative learning, and motivation.