UNH Today

Kristina Durocher, director and curator of UNH’s Museum of Art, has been elected to a three-year term as president of the Association of Academic Museums and Galleries (AAMG), the leading professional organization for academic museums, galleries and collections in the United States.

Durocher is steering the organization through a period of strategic planning that she expects will feature initiatives aimed at broadening AAMG’s constituency to be more inclusive, she says. The planning goal is to strengthen the members’ capacity to impact higher education through research, teaching and professional development, as well as contribute to the sustainability of arts and cultural heritage.

“This appointment is quite an honor for me professionally and gives the University of New Hampshire national recognition in the field of academic museums and museums in general,” says Durocher, adding, “I am grateful to have been selected by my colleagues to lead AAMG through this unprecedented time with its extraordinary challenges and opportunities to reinvigorate our institutions and initiate change across our field.”

Since 2011, Durocher has directed the Museum of Art at UNH, which collects and preserves works of art, and executes exhibitions and programs. Durocher’s curatorial program comprises one-person and group thematic exhibitions that support student learning and faculty instruction and facilitate teaching through art as a primary source for academic and social engagement. She is a member of the board of directors of the New England Museum Association and has served as the New England regional representative for the Association of Academic Museum and Galleries since 2015.

Organized in 1980, AAMG establishes and supports best practices, educational activities and professional development that enable its member organizations to fulfill their educational missions.