Kara Fedje is a Visiting Assistant Professor in Museum Studies. Her specialty is in Museum Education and Visual Culture. In the last two decades, she has led educational programs in regional science, art, children’s, and state museums. She holds a BA from Augustana College in Fine Art, a MA in Museum Studies from Western Illinois University, and is currently completing a PhD in Art Museum Education at Florida State University.

Kara began her museum career as the Monticello Intern and the Mary Ann MacLean Educator at the Illinois State Museum where she initiated, marketed, and received grants to implement “Saturplay,” weekly science/art/history hands-on family programs. She taught natural history, chemistry, and engineering at the Putnam Museum and Science Center’s summer camps, Putnam for Preschool, Davenport schools afterschool enrichment programs, and museum-wide robotics competitions. At the Des Moines Arts Center, Kara collaborated with colleagues to implement “Entirely Kids Days”, Des Moines Arts Festival children’s exhibition, and “Art Spectrums,” a program for kids with autism and their family members.

When she returned to the Putnam Museum and Science Center before the pandemic, as Vice President of Learning Experiences, she led an education department as an administrator. Since then, Kara taught graduate students for Western Illinois University Museum Studies and undergraduate museum students at Florida State University. Her doctoral work focuses on marginalized families and how they feel a sense of belonging in museums. As an evaluator and researcher with Rockman et al, she focused on belonging as it pertained to children’s responses to public broadcasting, as well as studies on family learning. As a consultant, she has designed strategies for professional learning and collaborated to write and work on grants with other museum professionals. She’s been a member of museum organizations: NAEA, IMA, MMA, ASTC, AAMG, and AAM. Her publications include an article in AAM’s “Museum” magazine, a chapter in “Dimensions of Curation: Considering Competing Values for Intentional Exhibition Practices,” and various federal grant funded reports and projects.