Curator of Education

Full-time position, $56,000 annual salary with full benefits

The Museum of the Big Bend (MoBB) at Sul Ross State University in Alpine, Texas, serves and educates the public by collecting, preserving, exhibiting, and interpreting cultural, historic, and natural materials that relate to the prehistory, history, and cultural diversity of the Big Bend region of Texas and Mexico. The museum traces its origins to 1926 and stewards more than 25,000 objects spanning prehistoric to contemporary periods, providing a collections-based learning resource for rural Far West Texas communities.

In June 2023, the museum completed the Emmett and Miriam McCoy Building, a 10,000 ft, $11 million expansion that doubled the museum’s size and increased capacity for exhibitions and public programs.

The Museum of the Big Bend at Sul Ross State University seeks to hire a Curator of Education to professionalize program design, expand curriculum‑aligned school services, and deliver bilingual, accessible public learning opportunities grounded in the museum’s 25,000‑object collection and new McCoy Building exhibition capacity.

The Curator of Education will design and implement lectures, workshops, gallery talks, summer camps, docent‑led tours, traveling education trunks with lesson plans in English and Spanish, and targeted outreach to rural schools.

This is a 3‑year IMLS grant funded program with the opportunity to expand the position in the future. Priorities of the grant include piloting public programs for the Museum, prioritizing partnership with regional school districts, increased program delivery, and institutionalization of the position.

Intended outcomes include increased school and family participation, measurable learning gains through pre/post evaluations, expanded educator resources hosted on a public digital toolkit, and broadened access for underserved populations across Brewster, Jeff Davis, Presidio, Pecos, and Terrell counties. Sustainability will be achieved through a three‑part strategy: university institutional support, an earned‑revenue sliding‑scale model, and targeted private philanthropy.

The primary audience for educational programming includes the residents of the Big Bend region, including children and youth under age 18 and students enrolled at Sul Ross State University. While visitors from all over the United States and world come to the MoBB, locals visit more frequently. We want to create programming that will provide information about the area, as well as allow our citizens to develop a sense of pride and ownership of their community.

The Curator of Education will also have the ability to hire two part‑time assistant educators to assist in teaching and implementing programs, tours, and other educational activities.

• Designing and developing the philosophy and vision for public programming in collaboration with the Director.
• Creating and implementing programs such as lectures, workshops, classes, and symposia at the Museum.
• Creating and implementing gallery talks focusing on the Museum’s collections and exhibitions in collaboration with the Curator of Collections.
• Building and developing a list of potential students, participants, and attendees for programming.
• Establishing and maintaining relationships with area schools to see how the Museum can best partner with them regarding field trips to the Museum or outreach programs the Museum can bring to the schools.
• Establishing and maintaining relationships with area cultural institutions to continue collaborations, or create new ways to collaboration with other institutions.
• Creating and giving tours for groups of varying…