Museum Studies graduate Paige Bardolph has returned to SF State to serve as director of the Global Museum, a new public space maintaining and exhibiting the University’s collections of artifacts from Africa, Americas, Asia, Egypt and Oceania. She began her new job January 31 and is busy preparing the museum’s debut exhibit, scheduled to open April 26.
Most recently, Bardolph was associate curator at the Autry Museum of the American West, where she developed large-scale exhibition projects for several years, including serving as lead curator for the award-winning California Continued and the largest renovation in the Los Angeles museum’s history. Her work on the Autry’s The Life and Work of Mabel McKay garnered an Honorable Mention MUSE Award for Media and Technology from American Alliance of Museums.
Bardolph (M.A., ’11) previously worked for the California Academy of Sciences, Golden Gate National Recreation Area and Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, in areas ranging from collections care to museum education. She also has media, fundraising and planning experience and has worked closely with museum boards, in museum administration and in audience development.
Bardolph also serves a Museum Studies lecturer. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in history from University of California, Berkeley.
Professor Edward M. Luby, director of the Museum Studies Program and the Global Museum’s inaugural director, welcomes Bardolph.
“For the past three years, I’ve worked with the campus, the College of Liberal & Creative Arts and our students to build the infrastructure of the Global Museum, integrating students into all work efforts to create learning experiences as a central goal,” Luby says. “I’m excited beyond words to turn over our ‘startup’ museum to such an accomplished museum professional — a graduate of our very own Museum Studies Program — so that the museum’s vision of serving as a vibrant place of education, an emerging center of community and as a steward of irreplaceable cultural collections can be moved forward.”
College of Liberal & Creative Arts Dean Andrew Harris agrees.
“We look forward to working with Paige as she moves the Global Museum to its next stage, with exhibits and programs that engage the campus and Bay Area community on topics of global interest, and works with Professor Luby to continue to make the Global Museum a place of learning for our students,” Harris says.
Luby remains on the Global Museum staff as chief curator, working closely with Bardolph, colleagues and students.
About the Global Museum
The Global Museum, a research and service organization in the College of Liberal & Creative Arts, opens its debut exhibit, Going Global: From San Francisco to the World, on April 26. The exhibit highlights the outstanding collections maintained by the Global Museum, hailing from many diverse places around the world, including Egypt, South America, Oceania and Africa.
The museum is in room 203 of the Fine Arts Building. Admission will be free.
The Global Museum’s mission is to create experiences that foster lifelong learning, collaborate with diverse communities and to encourage reflection about global society and our common humanity. It is committed to being a responsible steward of cultural heritage; a place of scholarship, community and engagement; and a space for people to appreciate the power of diverse communities in a globally connected world.
The approximately 50 Museum Studies students are involved with designing the exhibitions, conducting research, creating educational programs and providing customer service to visitors.
Initial programs will focus on serving the diverse population of the campus and its immediate neighbors, as well as K – 12 schools from the region, to support engagement with its collections, including the well-known Sutro collection of ancient Egyptian mummies and artifacts.