INDIANA UNIVERSITY MUSEUM OF ARCHAEOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY
Brandie Macdonald appointed Executive Director
Macdonald brings nearly 15 years of nonprofit leadership to the role, including extensive experience managing teams, curating exhibits, fundraising, and relationship-building with Indigenous peoples. In her most recent role, she served as Senior Director of Decolonizing Initiatives at the Museum of Us in San Diego, California. She began her new role at IU on June 1.
As a curator and scholar, Macdonald has led the creation of a number of exhibitions during her tenure at the Museum of Us, including Colonial Legacy: The Museum’s Façade, and Maya: Heart of the Sky, Heart of the Earth. An Indigenous citizen of the Chickasaw Nation with ancestral ties to the Choctaw Nation, Macdonald’s references refer to her as “a rising cultural leader.”
Macdonald also held key roles at First Peoples Fund in Rapid City, South Dakota and The Heritage Center at Red Cloud Indian School in Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota. She received a Master of Education in international higher education at Loyola University and is completing her Ph.D. at the University of San Diego in education studies. She teaches remotely at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, with a focus on Indigenous stewardship practices and repatriation policy.
“Brandie’s extensive museum leadership and curatorial experience, as well as history of successful collaboration with Native tribes, make her uniquely qualified to lead IUMAA to its grand opening and beyond,” said Rahul Shrivastav, Executive Vice President and Provost of IU Bloomington. We are excited for Brandie to bring her knowledge, creativity and expertise to IUMAA. She will help greatly to expand research and hands-on learning opportunities for our students, particularly for our new M.A. in Curatorship program.”