Anna Slafer

At Johns Hopkins, Anna Slafer is a lecturer for the MA in Museum Studies program.

Anna Slafer is the Vice president of Exhibitions and Programs at the International Spy Museum. She founded the department on the museum’s inception in 2002 and oversees the divisions of exhibitions, curatorial, education, and collections. Most recently she directed the creation of the exhibitions for the new SPY Museum at L’Enfant Plaza, which opened May 2019. Earlier exhibitions include: Exquisitely Evil: 50 Years of Bond Villains, The Enemy Within: Terror In America—1776-Today (including co-authoring the catalogue), and Operation Spy, a THEA-winning, hour-long immersive experience.

Ms. Slafer has more than 25 years of museum experience. She has served as the founding Curator of Education at the National Building Museum, co-developer/manager of the first Hands On History Room at the National Museum of American History, Project Director of the Rolling Rainforest, a completely immersive mobile exhibit, and Developer & Manager of the Los Angeles Children’s Museum Mini-Museum, a pop-up satellite site at the nation’s first art-dedicated shopping mall space. She also served as Executive Director of the environmental organization, Renew America.

Ms. Slafer is the co-author of three award-winning educational publications, including the book, Why Design. Her work has appeared in professional books and journals including Patterns In Practice, Journal of Museum Education, and Exhibitionist. She has served as a consultant to numerous organizations around the country, from the American Planning Association to the Science Museum of Minnesota, and advised the City of Las Vegas on the adaptive reuse of a historic building as a major new museum and cultural center.

Her professional activities include as a speaker at a number of American Alliance of Museums annual meetings, for the National Center on Accessibility, the American Institute of Architects, the National Park Service, and UNESCO/ICOMOS. She has served on the Arts Curriculum Content Committee on Design Education of the National Endowment for and as a grants reviewer for the National Endowment for the Humanities. Since 2010 she has taught courses in museum education at Johns Hopkins University Master of Arts in Museum Studies program.

Ms. Slafer holds a BA in Geography/Conservation and Analysis of Ecosystems from UCLA and a Master of Arts in Teaching in Museum Education from George Washington University.