Welcome

Thank you for visiting my website!

I am a researcher and faculty member in the History Department at Rochester Institute of Technology, where I direct the Museum Studies/Public History Program. I have been based in Rochester, NY since 2014. Previously, I taught at Georgetown College in north-central Kentucky from 2004-2014, where I began my scholarly research into museums, public history, and constructions of knowledge. At Georgetown, I also cultivated a research interest in Southern memorials, monuments, memory, and constructions of identity.

My professional work has revolved around public-facing engagements, including my first professional position as the manager of Cleveland’s public sculpture collection and my subsequent work overseeing, advising, and serving public and private outdoor sculpture collections. I am proud of these professional endeavors and am thrilled when I am able to combine my public practice with research, scholarship, and teaching.

As a scholar, my research is anchored in three areas—all of which look at excavating and critiquing histories and functions of museums, primarily in the U.S., as part of the process of understanding constructions of knowledge. I have curated exhibitions focusing on visual arts, including fiber arts and activism; material culture; and public history. I have, since 2006 overseen or otherwise directed more than 200 exhibitions, including loan exhibitions, traveling shows, scholarship-conference-theme-driven displays, and student directed efforts. I have served as a consultant to public art projects and programs in the US. Two current projects involve technological applications related to authenticity and discoverability.

In addition to my role as a scholar and strategic, empathetic, and determined faculty member striving to prepare students for the world’s challenges, I truly love to work with scholars, practitioners, and communities. If you’re interested in collaborating or in sharing your work with a wider audience through the journal I oversee, please be in touch.

Finally, thank you for reading my site. I hope to hear from you.

Juilee Decker, Ph.D.
jdgsh@rit.edu
PS: We are doing a call for the next Editor-In-Chief. You’ll find that call here.

I respectfully acknowledge that my home and primary place of employment are built on land guaranteed to the Onöndowa’ga:’ by the Treaty of Canandaigua, 1794. With this statement, I seek to help create a more accurate picture of the history of the lands and waterways we all call home. I also wish to pay respect to the Indigenous People who have stewarded these natural wonders.