Preservation and Museum Specialist ; Temp

Preservation and Museum Specialist 3 (Temp)

Position Title Preservation and Museum Specialist 3 (Temp)

Western Washington University, with over 15,000 students in seven colleges and the graduate school, is nationally recognized for its educational programs, students and faculty. The campus is located in Bellingham, Washington, a coastal community of 90,000 overlooking Bellingham Bay, the San Juan Islands and the North Cascades Mountain range. The city lies 90 miles north of Seattle and 60 miles south of Vancouver, British Columbia.

Western has additional sites in Anacortes, Bremerton, Everett, Port Angeles, and Poulsbo. Western is recognized nationally for its successes, such as being named one of the top public master's‑granting institutions in the Pacific Northwest for 25 years in a row by U.S. News & World Report.

Western Washington University is committed to achieving excellence through advancing inclusive success, increasing our Washington impact, and focusing on transformational education grounded in the liberal arts and sciences and based on innovative scholarship, research, and creative activity. Western's greatest strength is the outstanding students, faculty, staff, and alumni/ae who make up its community. Western supports an inclusive governance structure for all and provides a learning and working environment in which everyone can thrive.

In pursuit of this excellence, individual employees are expected to establish and maintain productive and effective inclusive working relationships amongst diverse populations including staff, faculty, administration, student, and external constituents. Further, individual employees are expected to have the ability to operationalize sustainability concepts (economic, societal, environmental) into all aspects of performing their job duties.

The College of Fine and Performing Arts and the Western Gallery support Western's mission, which states that together with our students, staff, and faculty, we are committed to making a positive impact in the state and the world with a shared focus on academic excellence and inclusive achievement. We encourage applications from women, people of color, people with disabilities, veterans, and other candidates from underrepresented backgrounds and with diverse experiences interested in this opportunity.

This position is a Temporary Part-Time position.

The Preservation and Museum Specialist 3 is responsible for the installation and maintenance of exhibitions in the Western Gallery and other campus venues, as well as the care, preservation, and documentation of Western Washington University’s art collection. This role ensures the safety, security, and professional presentation of artworks while adhering to museum standards and best practices. The position also supervises interns and collaborates with university departments to support gallery operations and collection management.

This position will end no later than December 2026.

• Bachelor’s degree in Studio Art, Art Conservation, or a relevant field from accredited institution and minimum one (1) year of museum experience with a measurable level of achievement of institutional goals, or an equivalent combination of education and experience sufficient to successfully perform the job’s essential duties.
• Strong interpersonal, written, and oral communication skills.
• Demonstrated experience with project management, planning, problem solving, and organizational skills with attention to detail as they relate to the installation of museum exhibitions.
• Ability to manage multiple exhibitions and projects simultaneously.
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate effectively with individuals from diverse backgrounds.
• Ability to work extended hours as necessary during installations of Western Gallery exhibitions.

• Wide knowledge about current practice and theory of contemporary art, as well as museum administration and methods, including collection management policies and ethics, proper function of exhibitions and methods of documenting, researching, organizing, and caring for collections.
• Ab…