Lana Burgess joined McKissick Museum’s curatorial staff in August 2008. As an Assistant Clinical Professor, she leads the College of Arts and Sciences’ faculty initiative, which is designed to enhance faculty and student use of the museum. She is also the Director of the Museum Management Program and is courtesy faculty to the Department of Art. Since joining the university, Burgess has taught courses on the history of decorative arts in America, the history of American Architecture, the history of African-American art and its patrons, museum administration and management, museum exhibition development and interpretation, and collections management.Burgess has a strong academic and curatorial background. She was awarded her Ph.D. in Art History from Florida State University, Tallahassee. She specializes in Art of the United States, West African art and the Diaspora, Southern outsider art, and Museum Studies. Burgess coordinated the Museum Studies Program at Florida State University, Tallahassee, from 2002 to 2008. Previously she served as a senior curator at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Alabama.