Loyola Class of ’91
Current Occupation: Executive Director of the Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art, Staten Island, New York
Loyola College was a great learning experience for me. It was at Loyola where I learned research skills through that I was able to turn my love of history into a career. I started out as a communications major and took a lot of history “electives” and halfway through my sophomore year I decided to change majors to history with intention of continuing on and obtaining a PHD in History. In my senior year, I had an internship at Mount Clare Mansion, the colonial home of Charles Carroll, Barrister who was the cousin of Charles Carroll of Carrollton. It was a rather small museum so I was able to gain a lot of “hands-on” experience and from then on I was hooked on Museums.
After graduation, I moved back to New York and worked as a copy-editor for Matthew Bender Inc, studied for the GRE, applied to graduate school and was accepted to George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia where I received the Gunston Hall Fellowship and worked as a research associate at Gunston Hall, the home of George Mason. After receiving my Master’s Degree in History, I once again moved back to New York and started working at a relatively new museum, the Museum of American Finance. I worked there for 10 years in various capacities but primarily working on exhibitions and educational programs and I was also the Museum’s spokesperson and appeared on quite a few financial news programs and financial history documentaries.
Since 2004, I have been the executive director of the Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art in Staten Island. This has been a very rewarding experiencing for me. I had only taken two Asian History courses when I was at Loyola so while I knew how to run a museum, I had a bit of learning curve when it came to the subject matter. Thankfully, New York City was rich in resources and the research skills I acquired at Loyola proved to be very useful. The Tibetan Museum has been especially rewarding for me, especially when I had the great opportunity to meet His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and to travel to Tibet and Nepal.
My advice to Loyola students is that you should be open to any possibilities and to take advantage of any learning opportunities both in and out of the classroom. You never know where the path will lead.
Photo courtesy of Dennis Jarvis on Flickr:https://www.flickr.com/photos/archer10/2212427003/in/photolist-4nvgta-ugpBAS-54aVcQ-4XtZ1R-51JEw9-4YEfaF-53nd4n-4ZBg55-51ZcNs-4WWvJ9-4YUr6c-52td5w-535d2z-51wLVs-53viRB-pyjD4D-554yj7-61BNa1-54Zk6B-54JqE9-51JFro-4YEdyZ-4Zd5iE-55dR4v-4XjZzG-6466D4-5WpBkG-54kv2t-4nuB6v-uesYHw-51JFdG-4nu978-54Zmpv-pK27U2-53UXJJ-53QJcg-52Jnx8-535do8-4WSgGM-51ZdqN-54aWkd-51eWBx-ugYMpn-4WSeVP-dC8RjF-4nzdqh-4WWuyN-54aXc3-mHSrS-4WS7Va