The former manager of communications and audience engagement at the University of New Mexico Art Museum is now the first person to be the museum’s associate director of operations since 2013.
Devin Geraci, who began her career in 2018 at UNMAM, will work with UNMAM Director Arif Khan in her new role as associate director of operations, a release said. Geraci will oversee museum operations, including communications and marketing, human resource, finance and facilities.
“Devin Geraci’s long personal and professional history with the museum, and her impressive array of accomplishments, position her well as the museum continues its efforts to serve the University community,” Khan said in the release. “Her dedication to supporting students and her vision for the future of the museum represents the operational and administrative leader we need in this transformational moment.”
Geraci, who according to LinkedIn has a master’s in museum studies and a Master of Business Administration from UNMAM, began at the museum as coordinator of events and visitor services, the release said.
Geraci managed nearly 40 students through the UNMAM Museum Assistant Program “while improving visitor experiences, coordinating events and programs, and leading the museum’s marketing initiatives,” the release said. Geraci redesigned the program in the fall of 2021 to provide students with “enriching employment opportunities.”
Geraci has developed new roles for students in order to give them “more hands-on skills” and to integrate them into the museum’s operations, the release said. Currently, students work in social media, communications, exhibition preparation and events.
“When I started at the museum as the coordinator of Events & Visitor Services, our museum assistants had very simple jobs. They staffed our front desk, greeted visitors, and monitored the galleries,” Geraci said in the release. “Working so closely with those students, I realized that they were capable and interested in doing much more.”
Geraci said in the release that the goal is to build onto the roles until students are “working in all areas of the museum.”
“Most of our student employees stay with us until they graduate, so I am committed to providing experiences that will help them achieve their career goals after they leave UNM,” Geraci said.
Because Geraci adjusted the museum’s hours to “expand and improve” visitors’ experience, since fall 2019, “the museum stays open late Tuesdays through Saturdays for all shows in Popejoy Hall, which is located right next door.”
“We saw an increase of 38 percent of total visitors in that first semester with these new hours,” Geraci said in the release. “I also designed a visitor experience survey to gather feedback about what visitors liked or where we could improve. It’s important to me that the museum is welcoming to everyone, so I am grateful to have an excellent team, including our Visitor Services Associate Krista Gray and the museum assistants, who strive each day to support the vision of the museum.”
Geraci worked full-time while earning her master’s degree at UNMAM. She graduated in 2022 with distinction, and “her master’s thesis blended both areas of study in a field-wide survey to assess the workplace attitudes of museum professionals,” the release said.
“I chose to pursue both the Museum Studies master’s program and Anderson’s MBA program because they were well-suited for working professionals with evening classes and online options, even before the pandemic,” Geraci said in the release.
“Pursuing both programs at the same time allowed me to connect the business skills that I learned in Anderson with the practices of museum operations that I gained through the Museum Studies program.”
The support of museum colleagues helped Geraci balance school and full-time work, she said in the release.
“That is one of the great things about working on a university campus, everyone values education, so it was an environment where I was really encouraged to pursue these programs,” Geraci said in the release.