Skip to content

Curriculum Vitae

Amanda Beasley

Knoxville, TN | contact@amandabeasley.art

Professional Profile

Museum professional, educator, artist, and emerging scholar whose work bridges university museum practice, art-historical inquiry, public engagement, and creative research. Her experience spans visitor-centered strategy, interpretive and educational design, academic engagement, student mentorship, and community-facing programming. Amanda’s broader trajectory is toward museum leadership that integrates interpretation, collection-based inquiry, exhibition development, and meaningful public exchange.

        Education

        University of Tennessee Knoxville — Knoxville, TN
        M.S., Information Sciences, expected 2027

        University of Tennessee Knoxville — Knoxville, TN
        B.A., Art History and Studio Art, magna cum laude, 2019

        Professional Experience

        Visitor Services Coordinator
        McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture, University of Tennessee Knoxville | Knoxville, TN | 2020-Present

        • Lead the museum’s visitor services department as part of the Education team, supervising a team of 14 Visitor Service Associates and 1 part-time staff member while cultivating a training culture centered on access, responsiveness, and meaningful public engagement.
        • Established the department’s structure, guiding principles, and visitor-centered systems to strengthen service quality, staff development, and alignment with museum-wide goals.
        • Advanced a progressive compensation model for Visitor Service Associates, contributing to pay increases of up to 87% and strengthening recruitment, retention, and equity within the department.
        • Led accessibility and inclusion improvements to the museum’s physical environment and visitor experience, including the redesignation of two single-occupancy restrooms as gender-neutral accessibility spaces and the creation of a flexible semi-private reflection room. 
        • Launched the museum’s first creative and educational engagement space, the Elaine Altman Evans Creative Suite, expanding opportunities for workshops, class use, reflective activities, community gathering, and exhibition-responsive learning. 
        • Directed engagement content for the Evans Creative Suite, facilitating connections to exhibitions and collections through hands-on projects, visitor prompts, mural initiatives, and digital strategies, including a community guest mural project that culminated in The Community Canvas exhibition. 
        • Co-developed and launched Monty’s Craft Circle, a twice-monthly drop-in creative program that built a returning community of participants and expanded opportunities for informal museum-based learning and connection. 
        • Designed and implemented a museum-wide self-guided activity booklet and developed participatory reflection activities, including the Cultural Continuity food memories project and Sunflower & Feelings emotional literacy activity, linking personal narratives with exhibitions and archaeological collections.  
        • Initiated and implemented visitor data collection protocols, producing defined visitor demographics, measurable exhibition impact, and preliminary heat-mapping of visitor movement and engagement in the galleries.  
        • Synthesized data and presented recommendations that informed exhibition planning, digital outreach, museum policies, and future space and interpretive strategies. 
        • Collaborated across departments to organize up to 20 programs annually, including public and family events blending self-guided and facilitated engagement strategies. 
        • Managed salary, project, and operational budgets and secured recurring City of Knoxville Community Agency Grant funding beginning in 2022 to sustain weekend access and expand public programming support.

        Community Art Coordinator
        University of Tennessee Knoxville, School of Art | Knoxville, TN | 2017-2019

        • Co-developed and delivered community-based art projects and programs designed to engage and educate the Mechanicsville community.
        • Partnered with the Community Art team and faculty leadership to shape program goals, strengthen collaboration, and support sustainable planning.
        • Wrote and helped implement grant proposals that secured resources for community-facing arts initiatives totaling $2,000 in support.  
        • Helped deliver projects including a library mural and an interdisciplinary installation bridging natural science and art through collaborative making.  

        Academic Engagement, Teaching, & Mentorship

        • Led the design and facilitation of interpretive and creative learning experiences that connected exhibitions and collections to dialogue, inquiry, and hands-on participation.
        • Directed engagement content for the Elaine Altman Evans Creative Suite and related in-gallery activities, supporting workshops, class use, reflective activities, and exhibition-responsive learning.
        • Co-developed recurring making-based programs, including Monty’s Craft Circle, and facilitated workshops such as a linocut workshop to expand informal museum-based learning and community participation.
        • Developed participatory activities and engagement materials, including Cultural Continuity, Sunflower & Feelings, visitor prompts, mural projects, and tactile installations, to support student and multi-generational learning tied to exhibition themes and interpretive goals.

        Museum Studies Internship Supervisor
        McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture, University of Tennessee Knoxville | Knoxville, TN | 2022-Present

        • Guide students through project-based museum assignments designed to build professional experience, reflective practice, and applied understanding of visitor engagement challenges.
        • Incorporate assessment and presentation into the internship experience, culminating in students sharing findings with peers and museum staff.

        UT Honors & Scholars Internship Mentor
        University of Tennessee, Knoxville — Knoxville, TN | 2022

        • Used inquiry-based learning methods in a museum setting to support student development in ethical data collection, research, analysis, report drafting, and presentation of outcomes to museum staff.

        UT Promise Mentor
        University of Tennessee, Knoxville — Knoxville, TN | 2020–Present

        • Mentor undergraduate students in academic progress, goal-setting, scholarship retention, resource navigation, and confidence-building within a university support network.

        Presentations & Invited Talks

        • “Frontline Futures: Rethinking Visitor Services as Creative Practice Across Time.” American Alliance of Museums Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo | May 23, 2026
        • “Curating for Feeling: Emotional Intelligence and Museum Engagement.” College Art Association Annual Conference | February 18, 2026
        • “From Transactional to Transformational: Rethinking Frontline Museum Work as Creative Practice.” Smithsonian Affiliates Virtual Conference | September 17, 2025
        • “Data-Driven Museum.” Presentation to University of Tennessee campus departments on visitor data collection, assessment, and data-informed decision-making, Knoxville, TN | August 2025
        • “Engaging Learners In & Out of Gallery Spaces.” Knoxville Area Museum Educators, Knoxville, TN | July 30, 2024
        • “Engaging Visitors @ the McClung.” Museum Studies Intern Class, University of Tennessee, Knoxville | February 2, 2024
        • “Building Visitor Services @ the McClung.” Museum Studies Intern Class, University of Tennessee, Knoxville | February 4, 2022
        • “My Job Search Strategies & Philosophies.” Museum Studies Intern Class, University of Tennessee, Knoxville | April 17, 2020
        • “Liberty and the Testimony of Swallowed Sun (Monstrance & Volute): Martin Puryear’s Work at the 58th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia.” National Conference on Undergraduate Research, Bozeman, MT | March 2020. Conference canceled due to COVID-19
        • “Genji Monogatari Emaki: Reading the Subtext of Color.” Pittsburgh Asia Consortium Undergraduate Research Conference, Indiana, PA | February 29, 2020
        • “Sketch of a Memoir.” MSA Confab, Artist Talk, Chattanooga, TN | October 5, 2019
        • “Genji Monogatari Emaki: Reading the Subtext.” SECAC Undergraduate Art History Panel, Birmingham, AL | October 18, 2018

        Selected Exhibitions

        • Sculpture Clubby III | Gallery 1010, Knoxville, TN | Curator & Exhibition Designer | November 8–10, 2019
        • MSA Confab, Dianne Komminisk MSA Scholarship Exhibition | Versa Gallery, Chattanooga, TN | Group Exhibition | October 4–6, 2019
        • Comp Time: UTK Staff Artists | Gallery 1010, Knoxville, TN | Curator & Exhibition Designer | April 5–7, 2019
        • The Left Behind | Gallery 1010, Knoxville, TN | Solo Exhibition | March 1–3, 2019

        Grants, Awards, & Recognition

        • Community Agency Grant | City of Knoxville, TN | 2022–2025
        • Community Engagement Incentive Grant | Office of Community Engagement & Outreach, University of Tennessee, Knoxville | 2018
        • Dianne Komminisk Mid-South Sculpture Alliance Outstanding Achievement Scholarship | Mid-South Sculpture Alliance | 2019

        Professional Certifications

        • Conflict Navigator | Ombuds UTK | December 2024

        Skills

        Visitor-centered strategy; object-based and interpretive engagement; public programming; community engagement; student mentorship and facilitation; visitor research and assessment; data-informed decision-making; grant writing; budget stewardship; project management; Microsoft Office; Adobe Creative Suite; CMS/web content management; survey tools; CRM and database management.