Stephanie Brown

At Johns Hopkins, Stephanie Brown is an Assistant Program Director and senior lecturer for the MA in Museum Studies program.

Brown manages the Museum Studies and Cultural Heritage internship program, collaborating with museums, libraries, and cultural heritage organizations around the country and internationally to create and foster rewarding opportunities for AAP students. She also works with the program’s social media portfolio, working with current students, alumni, and faculty to build community across social media channels. Brown teaches a range of museum studies courses, including Curatorship: Principles and Practices, Exploring Museum Professions, Internships, and Material Culture and the Modern Museum.

Brown has worked in museums as an executive director, curator, historian, and archivist. Her work has ranged from designing and implementing collections plans, to curating exhibitions, to institutional strategic planning. She also consults for museums, most recently working with the Haggin Museum in Stockton, California as guest curator for the reinstallation and reinterpretation of its permanent art collection, with the San Francisco National Maritime Historical Park on strategic planning, and as a contributing member of the California State Parks Transformation Team’s Cultural Resources Committee.

Brown is the immediate past co-chair of the American Alliance of Museums’ Museum Studies Network, and a member of the AAM Professional Network Characteristics of Success Council. She has taught and lectured at institutions nationwide and her professional and academic interests include curation, the history of collecting and museums, material culture studies, and public history. She writes about her current research project, which investigates the impact of the digital world on curatorial authority, online at The Disappearing Gauguin. Brown also served as executive director of the Chevy Chase Historical Society in Chevy Chase, Maryland, and associate curator for American Material Culture and Historian at Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens in Washington, D.C.

Brown has a Master of Science in biotechnology degree with a concentration in bioinformatics from Johns Hopkins University’s Advanced Academic Programs division and a PhD in European history from Stanford University.