After 106 years of reporting to the Office of Research and Graduate Studies, the MSU Museum will now be under the wing of the College of Arts and Letters.
Officials say departments across campus are figuring out ways to streamline and collaborate in the face of harsh budget constraints - the museum realignment is just another example of that.
"It's a good fit for us to be placed in a college environment," said Lora Helou, information officer for the museum.
The museum already collaborates with a variety of colleges on its collections, so the transition made sense, Helou said. In 2002, the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources put together a packing exhibit with museum curators.
Faculty members work in many capacities at the museum, from engaging in different stewardships to managing collections, Helou said.
Deans from the colleges of Natural and Social Science and Arts and Letters will meet with officials from the Office of Research and Graduate Studies and the assistant provost for University Outreach, to provide input on ideas for the museum.
Bob Huggett, vice president for research and graduate studies, said his office will still work with the museum, but the switch allows all of the museum's contributors to stay involved.
"A good part of the museum was an outreach function and it was heavily culturally oriented," he said. "It made more sense, since it had many functions, not to have it under the Office of Research and Graduate Studies."
Although overall reductions to the university's general fund have affected academic units across campus, the budget for the museum will not undergo any further changes, said Wendy Wilkins, dean of the College of Arts and Letters.
Wilkins said she has no particular plans in mind for the museum, but only to allow faculty and staff working there an avenue of creative thinking and planning. A study of the museum might however be conducted in the fall, she said.
"It is the museum professionals who need to chart its future," she said.
The museum hosts about one million artifact objects and specimens, from a pottery chip to a carousel, Helou said.
For more information about the MSU Museum log on to www.museum.msu.edu.
