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Opportunities for Undergraduates
Opportunities for Undergraduates
Having museums on campus provides W&L undergraduates valuable academic opportunities including internships, undergraduate research and work experiences, independent study and capstones, special classrooms and programming, student engagement, and more. Explore these opportunities below.
Academic Engagement
The Art and Art History Department offers a Minor in Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies. In support of the minor, museum staff offers a class in Chinese Export Porcelain and the China Trade, 1500 to 1900, and a Seminar in Museum Studies. Additionally, staff assists art and art history classes, when needed.
The Museums at W&L offers an eight-week, paid summer internship to currently enrolled W&L students. The program provides W&L students in any discipline an introduction to basic museum policies and practices through hands on experiences with the collections.
Students who participate in the student employment program support the Museums at W&L in a variety of ways. Students who report to the museum program coordinator assist with education, marketing, and visitor services. Those who report to the collections manager support the collections, exhibits, and art moves.
Named after the former Director of the Reeves Collection, the Thomas V. Litzenburg Jr. Prize recognizes outstanding academic work on objects in the Museums at Washington and Lee University.
Past Recipients:
- 2020 Kassidy Strosnider
- 2019 David R. Salchert
- 2018 Julie Ruth Malone
- 2017 Arianna India Dial
- 2016 Hannah Tyler Wilson
- 2016 Kendall Christine Knoll
- 2013 Ellen Margaretta Archie
- 2012 Rachel Elyse Denniston
- 2011 Kathryn Bradley Gephart
- 2010 Lauren Frances Sturdy
- 2008 Madeline Lilia Gent
- 2007 Anne Taylor Tipton
- 2005 Michael David Letournea
- 2004 Clay Tillman Jackson, Jr.
Student Engagement
The Museums at W&L holds student-only events throughout the year. During the school year, the Museums at W&L offers student exam breaks (coffee and snacks included), information tables in Elrod Commons and at the Student Activities Fair, exhibit-specific events, and our annual Cheese Louise wine and cheese reception.
- Discover current exhibits and upcoming events.
The Museums at W&L consists of three museums that are open to university students for free. All current Washington and Lee students (undergraduate and law) are considered honorary members of “Friends of Lee Chapel.” Student benefits include:
- 10% off Museum Shop purchases with current WLU ID.
- An additional one-time 10% off when a student takes a guided tour of Lee Chapel and Museum.
Opportunities for Undergraduates
Students are active and hands-on in museum, exhibit and gallery spaces across campus.
Students catalog work in the Reeves Center.
Professor of Chemistry Erich Uffelman (left) and Jennifer Mass, senior scientist at the Winterthur Museum (center), led an Art History 288 class on analysis for Ron Fuchs, Reeves Center curator (right).
A student analyzes a piece of Chinese porcelain in the Reeves Center.
W&L students help install a temporary exhibit on Latin American art.
Museum studies students install an exhibit of artwork in Leyburn Library.
WLU students installing Modern Arts Goes Pop exhibit
Our Mission
The Museums at W&L advance learning through direct engagement with collections, stimulate appreciation of global cultures, and inspire leadership in the arts and sciences.