Senior Curator of Education and Engagement

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Located in Bend, OR

Salary: Competitive comp & benefits!

The Bonnie Lee and Oliver P. Steele III Senior Curator of Education & Engagement provides leadership, guidance, and oversight of the Museum’s education initiatives for people of all ages. This role ensures the delivery of relevant, engaging, inquiry-based, diverse, and inclusive mission-based experiences, digital offerings, and other educational programs at the Museum, in the community, online and beyond. This role calls for someone who knows their subject deeply and knows how to teach it well: someone who can take complex, meaningful content and make it resonate with audiences of all ages and backgrounds.

What You Get to Do! 
Leadership
•    Co-creates and executes short-term and long-term strategic vision for the Education & Engagement department aligned with the Museum’s strategic plan and organizational priorities. 
•    Provides thought leadership in object- and inquiry-based pedagogy and programming. 
•    Establishes and monitors key performance indicators and program evaluation strategies to assess impact and support continuous improvement. 
•    Collaborates across departments to ensure educational initiatives support accreditation standards (Association of Zoos and Aquariums and American Alliance of Museums) and institutional goals. 
•    Recruits, trains, mentors, and supervises staff, paid interns, and volunteers; cultivates a collaborative team culture. Co-creates, executes, manages, and evaluates educational programs and initiatives–in the community, at the Museum and on-line–encouraging new, diverse, multi-generational and broad audiences, strengthening participation, and fostering active learning in the community, region and beyond. 
•    Provides thought leadership in object- and inquiry-based pedagogy and programming. 
•    Collaborates with Museum staff on maintaining Association of Zoos and Aquariums and American Alliance of Museums accreditation standards.
•    Recruits, trains, mentors, and supervises staff, paid interns, and volunteers.
•    In coordination with the Communications Team, represents the Museum as needed in a variety of mediums, including social media, print, photography, and video, in materials produced by both the Museum and by journalists sharing the story of the Museum’s work. 
•    Embraces, supports, and helps implement the Museum’s continued learning and commitment to justice, diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion. 
•    Creates, tracks, and manages departmental budget and expenses. 
•    Performs other related duties as necessary or assigned.
Community Engagement
•    In collaboration with Museum staff, expands and enriches relationships in the community and across the region, co-creating and co-implementing new models of participation and programming to extend our reach and deepen our impact. 
•    Develops and advances strategic community partnerships and programming that deepens impact and expand the Museum’s reach. 
•    Identifies the needs of audiences and develops responsive strategies and programs to meet defined community objectives and priorities.
•    Maintains a visible professional presence locally, statewide, and nationally professional community by presenting information about the work of the Education & Engagement Department through presentation and leadership roles. 
Interpretation & Exhibitions
•    Ensures interpretation aligns with the Museum’s strategic plan, interpretive framework, conservation priorities, and the principles outlined in the Certified Interpretive Guide program. 
•    Ensures interpretation is welcoming and inclusive of audiences across cultures, abilities, backgrounds, and lived experiences.
•    As a key member of the Exhibitions Team, plays an active role in embedding learning theory and content expertise into exhibit development and implementation. 
•    Collaborates with Curators to refined interpretive goals and develop interpretive approaches grounded in sound pedagogy. 
•    Ensures interpretation embodies the Museum’s mission and strategic plan, aligning with the Museum’s interpretive framework, conservation priorities, and the principles outlined in the Certified Interpretive Guide program as well as welcome all audiences by honoring their many cultures, abilities, backgrounds and lived experiences. 
•    Provides training, support and coaching to Museum staff, paid interns, and volunteers and supports the Associate Curator of Visitors and Volunteer Engagement in this role.
School Programs
•    In Collaboration with other Museum staff establishes, maintains and/or strengthens strategic partnerships with PreK-12 schools, colleges, and universities throughout the region. 
•    Oversees the development, implementation, and evaluation of standards-based, multidisciplinary programs, both on- and off-site, aligned with collections and exhibitions.  
•    Manages school related programs and supports Education and Engagement team members in delivering high-quality student experiences. 
•    Leads education workshops and programs for educators in collaboration with Museum staff and partner organizations.
Public Programs
•    Oversees the development and implementation of innovative multidisciplinary mission-based programs aimed at engaging audiences of all ages and building lifelong relationships with the Museum. 
•    Collaborates with Curators and community partners to develop public programs in connection with the Museum’s permanent and changing exhibitions, permanent collections, strategic plan, and interpretive framework.
•    Supports the Public Programs Coordinator in planning and evaluating the Museum’s programmatic offerings.
Living History
•    Oversees the development and implementation of living history programming focused on sharing the diverse histories of the High Desert. 
•    Collaboratives with Curators to guide historical and cultural interpretation to highlight historical and cultural topics to reflect diverse narratives and audience relevance. 
•    Supports the Associate Curator of Living History in managing the budgets, programs and staffing.
Additional Duties
•    Assist with museum-wide events, such as Free Day and the fundraising gala.
•    Other duties as assigned

What You Will Bring…
•    A bachelor’s degree in education, a subject-matter discipline (e.g. science, history, cultural studies, art, anthropology, public history), or a related field. Graduate degree in related field preferred. 
•    Minimum 10+ years of progressive leadership experience.
•    Demonstrated success setting and advancing organizational learning strategy.
•    Record of measurable impact across audiences, programs, or systems. 
•    Proven experience with program evaluation and using data to drive decisions. 
•    Experience leading multi-staff departments or complex cross-functional initiatives. 
•    Experience securing funding, cultivating major partnerships or advancing accreditation standards. 
•    Recognized professional presence through publications, conference presentations or leadership roles in the field. 
•    Prior experience working on exhibits 
•    Prior experience working in a formal or informal educational setting 
•    Experience at an American Alliance of Museums or Association of Zoos and Aquariums accredited organization
•    Demonstrated depth of content expertise in a relevant discipline or significant experience as a classroom educator with strong subject-matter knowledge. 
•    Demonstrated ability to articulate a strong pedagogical vision for object-based teaching across a range of disciplines.
•    Knowledge of museum best practices as well as current and emerging trends in the a museum field. 
•    Knowledge of learning theory, curriculum design, and interpretive practices in museum and/or formal education settings. 
•    Proven leadership skills, including mentoring, performance management, and cross-departmental collaboration. 
•    Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
•    Organized with attention to detail.
•    Thorough understanding of curation policies and procedures.
•    Basic understanding of public relations and marketing principles and processes.
•    Ability to set and track progress toward short and long-term goals.
•    Spanish language proficient preferred. 

To Apply: For confidential consideration, please submit resume to karen.turner@expresspros.com 

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