Museum Director and Educator Sharon Vegh Williams 86S Named Fulbright Specialist

Williams grew up in the Washington, D.C., area exploring the Smithsonian museums with her family. Those formative experiences drew her toward the study of art history at Hampshire. After graduating, she worked at the Boston Children’s Museum, and received a master’s in education and creative arts from Lesley University. Then, she says, “I took a decade-long detour to teach in public elementary schools in Boston and on the Navajo Nation in Shiprock, New Mexico. I learned a tremendous amount as a classroom teacher, but my passion was for museum education.”

She went on to earn a doctorate in education from the University of Rochester, and then taught at St. Lawrence University. “On the side,” Williams says, “I was forming a nonprofit board of directors, launching weekly outreach programs, and starting a capital campaign for our newly formed North Country Children’s Museum. My ‘side gig’ turned into my life’s work, and I left academia to pursue it full time.”

The museum provides exhibits and programming to children who might not have access to those experiences due to their rural isolation and poverty. “I believe that our society flourishes when all children, regardless of income and family situation, are given the intellectual, academic, and cultural tools to solve the world’s most pressing problems,” Williams says. “The world needs their voices, insights, and creativity. With limited funding allocated to rural public schools, the museum has become a critical learning resource for our region.”

I absolutely would not be doing what I am doing without my Hampshire education. At Hampshire, you ask questions about where you are headed and why. And you learn to finish what you started.Sharon Vegh Williams 86S

She is grateful for grant funding the museum received that enabled the purchase of a historic building and the hiring of an experienced exhibit design firm. “The company we worked with had just completed a hands-on exhibit for the Smithsonian Museum of Design,” she says, “so things really were coming full circle.”

Williams first learned of the Fulbright Specialist Program from a colleague, and was intrigued. She is thrilled to be heading to Monastir, Tunisia, for two weeks in September as Fulbright Specialist to help enhance the Maker Space exhibit at a hands-on science museum, Palais des Sciences Monastir.

The Fulbright Specialist Program is part of the larger Fulbright Program, but shorter in duration to accommodate those who can’t spare a full semester or year for work abroad. Per its website, the program “pairs highly qualified U.S. academics and professionals with host institutions abroad to share their expertise, strengthen institutional linkages, hone their skills, gain international experience, and learn about other cultures while building capacity at their overseas host institutions.”

“I am so passionate about the work I do,” Williams says. “I can’t think of any career that I am better suited for, and I absolutely would not be doing what I am doing without my Hampshire education. At Hampshire, you ask questions about where you are headed and why. And you learn to finish what you started.”