ARCHAEOLOGY ASSISTANT COLLECTIONS MANAGER

Req #: 222772
Department: BURKE MUSEUM
Posting Date: 09/28/2023
Closing Info:
Closes On 10/12/2023
Salary: $4,093 - $5,502 per month
Shift: Alternate Work Shift
Notes:
As a UW employee, you will enjoy generous benefits and work/life programs. For a complete description of our benefits for this position, please visit our website, click here. (https://hr.uw.edu/benefits/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/02/benefits-classified-staff-20210208.pdf) Please note that this position has been re-posted. If you have already submitted your application, you need not submit it again, as it has already been received.
As a UW employee, you have a unique opportunity to change lives on our campuses, in our state and around the world. UW employees offer their boundless energy, creative problem solving skills and dedication to build stronger minds and a healthier world.
UW faculty and staff also enjoy outstanding benefits, professional growth opportunities and unique resources in an environment noted for diversity, intellectual excitement, artistic pursuits and natural beauty.
About the Burke Museum:
The Burke Museum cares for and shares natural and cultural collections so all people can learn, be inspired, generate knowledge, feel joy, and heal. The Burke was founded in 1885 by the Young Naturalists, a group of curious teenagers inspired by seeing Seattle transform before their eyes. For 135 years, the museum has built upon this legacy, collecting objects that help us understand how the Northwest has grown and changed.
Totaling over 18 million objects, the Burke's collections help sustain cultural traditions, enable groundbreaking scientific research, and advance timely conversations that matter to us all. The collections are records of our past and investments in our future. The Museum's curators-faculty members at the University of Washington-grow collections in the anticipation of change: continued disruption to ecosystems, shifting cultural landscapes and advances in technology we have yet to imagine. Our work is collaborative; we partner with institutions, students, communities and people around the world to understand our past and create positive change in the future.
As both a University and State museum, the Burke Museum is a public resource committed to building an inclusive environment that welcomes and values all people. We recognize that our history, from the founding to the present day, is built upon a colonial model of museums that consistently privileged collections, preservation, and research over cultural autonomy and community survival.
The Burke is committed to decolonization as a key institutional priority, and across the museum, we now work as facilitators and stewards, not as gatekeepers and sole authorities, in order to honor our mandate to truly be a museum for all.
Summary:
In October 2019, the Burke opened a new building turning the work of a museum "inside-out" with visible labs, workrooms, collections storage, and an artist studio. Removing these barriers enables us to make the collections and work that happens here daily accessible to everyone. Every visit to the New Burke is different because every day brings new work. And because we're doing this work right out in the open, everyone can experience it and join in.
Job Summary:
Under general direction of the Archaeology Collections Manager, assist with and coordinate the day to day collections care, student and hourly activities, database management, and general operations of the Archaeology Department of the Burke Museum. As part of the department's day-to-day operations, this position also coordinates with the senior collections staff to process incoming collections, including tracking acquisitions, communicating with clients, generating invoices, and monitoring budgets.
Basic Functions:
The successful candidate assists the curator, collections manager and community outreach manager with the day-to-day collections operations. Specific responsibilities include:
General Administration
- Track and order office supplies, answer phones, manage files
- Conduct safety training for new staff and students
- Participate in Archaeology Department All-Staff staff meetings and other meetings as required
- Create and manage calendar of work schedules for students, hourly staff and volunteers
- Assist with grant applications and curation agreements, including gathering background data
- Work with Collections Manager to develop budget estimates, proposals and work plans
- Oversee calendars, emails and correspondence for new collections including tracking transfers, invoices, annual reports and inventories
- Evaluate and revise various curation policies annually based on client feedback Collections Management
- Track and log status of incoming collections and backlogged collections
- Oversee departmental IPM program, including collections, insect trap placement, monitoring and recording
- Assist visiting researchers/scholars; monitor visitors to collections; provide tours to public
- Process archives
- Perform data management duties including: conduct data clean-up and data imports; perform data backups; coordinate database concerns with proprietary customer services
- Train and manage students, hourly staff and volunteers to implement the following tasks: 25%-Inventory incoming collections-Isolate and monitor collections for pest infestation-Label, identify, catalog, photograph and rehouse artifacts-Enter archaeological collections data into Excel, PastPerfect, and ICMS; perform data imports-Implement appropriate housing for a variety of objects and material types-Help to prepare loan documentation, including condition reporting, photographing, data-entry collections as needed
- Track student work and provide feedback to the Collections Manager Instruction:
- Facilitate onsite use of the collections for UW and peer institution courses Community and Client Outreach
- Work in a public setting, responding to members of the public ad hoc to provide relevant content
- Help develop outreach and in-house interpretation in coordination with public programming
- Guide behind-the-scene collection tours
- Participate in community meetings, including with tribes, agencies, peer institutions and academic departments
- Assist with planning and implementation of public events, including on weekends, holidays and evenings
- Prepare guidelines, newsletters and other outreach documents to improve client, agency and community relations (2%) Other Responsibilities:
- Uphold the institution's commitment to equitable and inclusive practice Minimum Requirements:
- A Bachelor's degree in history, museum studies, fine arts, education, anthropology and three years of professional experience in a program specialty OR equivalent education and experience. Desired Qualifications:
- MA in Museology, Archaeology or related field
- Experience with PastPerfect and ICMS museum software
- Experience photographing archaeological materials
- Knowledge of CRM services, Washington State and Northwest Coast artifacts
- Proficient experience with collections databases, as well as intermediate to advanced knowledge of Excel Conditions of Employment:
- Able to work a flexible schedule that involves work on weekends and holidays
- Able to work in an environment visible to the public with visual and audible distractions
- Wear required credentials at all times and work attire/uniforms and name tags as required by positionApplication Process:The application process for UW positions may include completion of a variety of online assessments to obtain additional information that will be used in the evaluation process. These assessments may include Work Authorization, Cover Letter and/or others. Any assessments that you need to complete will appear on your screen as soon as you select "Apply to this position". Once you begin an assessment, it must be completed at that time; if you do not complete the assessment you will be prompted to do so the next time you access your "My Jobs" page. If you select to take it later, it will appear on your "My Jobs" page to take when you are ready. Please note that your application will not be reviewed, and you will not be considered for this position until all required assessments have been completed.
University of Washington is an affirmative action and equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to, among other things, race, religion, color, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, sex, age, protected veteran or disabled status, or genetic information.