RIHS Names Geralyn Ducady Education and Public Programs Director
(PROVIDENCE, R.I.) ??? The Rhode Island Historical Society has named Geralyn Ducady Director of its Newell D. Goff Center for Education and Public Programs after a two-month search.
Ducady joins the RIHS from Brown University???s Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology, where she served as Curator of Programs and Education for nine years.
Before joining the Haffenreffer, she served as the Education Coordinator at the San Diego Museum of Man and as the Education Outreach Coordinator for San Diego State University???s Archaeological Collections Management Program. Ducady received her B.A. in Anthropology and Archaeology from Boston University and her M.A. in Anthropology from San Diego State University. She also currently serves as the Recording Secretary on the Executive Board of the Tomaquag Museum in Exeter.????
???We could not be more excited to have Geralyn joining our team. Her expertise in explaining cultures and peoples through artifacts, as well as her many years developing museum education programming and curriculum, dovetail perfectly with the RIHS???s mission to share all of Rhode Island???s history with all Rhode Islanders,??? RIHS Executive Director C. Morgan Grefe said. ???Our collections are the backbone of our educational initiatives, and Geralyn is the perfect person to elevate our work inside and outside our museums.???????
???I???m thrilled to join the motivated and dynamic team at the Rhode Island Historical Society,??? said Ducady, whose research interests include public archaeology, museum education, Native American and African American stereotypes, multicultural education, and issues of race and ethnicity in America from anthropological and social perspectives.????
???I???m looking forward to furthering the RIHS???s mission to connect with Rhode Island???s many communities, and to providing public and school programming that is interesting as well as educational.???????
Current initiatives for the RIHS???s Goff Center for Education and Public Programs include:????
- The Anchor Schools Program, which identifies one Rhode Island school district each year (in 2015-16, the Burrillville School Department) as the recipient of professional development training for teachers, curriculum assistance, and digitized resources at no cost to them????
- The EnCompass digital textbook, undertaken in partnership with Providence College (seeing release on October 19)????
- Increased and updated All-Ability programming and educational opportunities at RIHS sites, including the award-winning SensAbilities Saturdays at the Museum of Work & Culture in Woonsocket????
Please see the additional attachment for the RIHS???s 2015 Educational Impact Statement.????
About the Newell D. Goff Center for Education and Public Programs
To present and interpret Rhode Island???s past to the public, the Goff Center sponsors tours and programs at the John Brown House Museum, the Aldrich House, the Museum of Work & Culture, and the Mary Elizabeth Robinson Research Center. In addition, it creates educational materials to be used by students and teachers and provide professional development opportunities for our state???s and the nation???s teachers, thanks to the federal Teaching American History (TAH) grant program, and funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Park Service, the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities, the John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor Commission, and other sources. The Goff Center is also generously supported by the private donations of members and supporters.??
About the Rhode Island Historical Society
Founded in 1822, the RIHS is the fourth-oldest historical society in the United States and is Rhode Island???s largest and oldest historical organization, as well as its only Smithsonian Affiliate. In Providence, the RIHS owns and operates the John Brown House Museum, a designated National Historic Landmark, built in 1788; the Aldrich House, built in 1822 and used for administration and public programs; and the Mary Elizabeth Robinson Research Center, where archival, book and image collections are housed. In Woonsocket, the RIHS manages the Museum of Work and Culture, a community museum examining the industrial history of northern Rhode Island and of the workers and settlers, especially French-Canadians, who made it one of the state???s most distinctive areas.