Director, Art Museum

The University of Memphis seeks an experienced, entrepreneurial museum leader to serve as Director of the Art Museum of the University of Memphis (AMUM). AMUM serves the University and the greater Memphis region as a hub for studying, interpreting, and showing visual art and for sharing artistic scholarship. A teaching museum with an established contemporary art program, AMUM presents and champions new and experimental visual art through temporary exhibitions and a visiting artist series that has brought site-based installations to Memphis since 1994, and its permanent collection includes contemporary prints and drawings. AMUM also administers an interdisciplinary Graduate Certificate Program in Museum Studies. The Director provides strategic and operational leadership for the museum, curates and oversees exhibitions and programs, manages staff and budget, and cultivates philanthropic and grant support, and teaches up to 3 equivalent credit hours per semester in the Department of Art and Design. The incoming Director will lead AMUM at a pivotal moment: sharpening the museum's identity as a teaching museum with a distinctive contemporary art program within a changing regional cultural landscape.

About AMUM

Founded in 1981 as the University Gallery and renamed in 1994, AMUM is the principal art museum of the University of Memphis. Its mission is to serve the University and the region as a hub for studying, interpreting, and showing visual art and for sharing artistic scholarship, and it champions new and experimental visual art. The museum presents temporary contemporary exhibitions alongside permanent collection displays, has hosted a visiting artist series bringing site-based installations to Memphis since 1994, and holds contemporary prints and drawings with strengths in Andy Warhol, Carroll Cloar, and Beth Van Hoesen, as well as African art. AMUM administers an interdisciplinary Graduate Certificate Program in Museum Studies with the Department of Anthropology and works in close partnership with the Institute of Egyptian Art and Archaeology, a Tennessee Center of Excellence housed within the museum's building.

Responsibilities

• Provide overall strategic, curatorial, and operational leadership for AMUM, building on the museum's established contemporary art program and overseeing the shared exhibit space, in close working partnership with IEAA's Director (IEAA is a separate entity, housed within AMUM's building, with its own governance).
• Develop and manage the museum's annual operating budget.
• Coordinate and curate contemporary art exhibitions, programs, and events, including the visiting artist series, in collaboration with Department of Art and Design faculty.
• Develop and implement a collections plan and acquisition priorities centered on contemporary art.
• Recruit, train, and supervise museum staff, graduate assistants, interns, and student workers.
• Cultivate donor relationships and pursue grant funding in coordination with University Advancement.
• Teach up to 3 equivalent credit hours per semester in the Department of Art and Design, including within the Museum Studies Certificate Program.
• Serve as a non-voting ex officio member of the AMUM Museum Advisory Board and work with the Board to implement museum programs and policy.
• Represent AMUM within the University and the broader academic museum field, including active engagement with peer institutions and professional associations such as AAMG.

Qualifications

• Terminal degree (PhD strongly preferred) in art history, museum studies, contemporary art, or a closely related field; candidates with a master's degree and a substantial record of professional museum leadership will also be considered.
• Minimum 7–10 years of progressively responsible museum experience, including curatorial and exhibition development work in contemporary art.
• Demonstrated budget, staff, and collections management experience.
• A record of scholarship or public curatorial practice.
• Demonstrated experience with, or strong aptitude for, donor cultivation and institutional fundraising.
   

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior experience in a university- or college-affiliated museum.
• Experience working with living artists, including site-based or commissioned projects, and acquiring or building a contemporary art collection.
• Experience building cross-departmental academic partnerships or faculty-curator collaborations.
• Experience with digital collections, digital exhibition strategy, or object documentation technologies.
• Experience with organizational or operational redesign within a museum setting.
   

To Apply

Submit a cover letter, curriculum vitae, a statement of curatorial and leadership philosophy, and contact information for three professional references via workforum.memphis.edu. Review of applications will begin as posted and continue until the position is filled, with a target start date in Summer 2027.

Applicants must be authorized to work in the U.S. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment visa at this time.

About Us

The University of Memphis is a leading, student-centered, urban public R1 research institution. Located in Memphis, Tennessee, on 1,160 acres. The University serves a population of nearly 20,000 students and 2,500 employees, including more than 1,000 full-time faculty members. The University offers bachelor’s degrees in more than 230 areas of study, master’s degrees in more than 50 subjects and doctoral degrees in 26 disciplines; supported an institutional record of more than $100 million in research awards for FY24; and has an operating budget of close to $500 million.