I’m pleased to announce that our inaugural foresight scholarship has been awarded to Terrance Hunter, program manager at the Holocaust Memorial Resource and Education Center of Florida. Since receiving his B.A. in Educational Studies from Warner University in 2013, Terrance has made savvy use of continued education, attending the Jekyll Island Management Institute and receiving a certificate in volunteer management from Rollins College. He also serves as History Section Chair for the Florida Association of Museums.

In a highly competitive field of 28 applicants, Terrance stood out for his work advancing diversity and inclusion at the Holocaust Memorial, and for his insightful commentary on trends shaping museums and their communities. Invited to introduce himself to readers of the Blog, Terrance writes:

“My work in the museum field began quite accidentally. I spent a summer working as a museum educator with the Orange County Regional History Center and fell in love – somehow a summer turned into four years. My experience at The History Center showed me the power that museums have to engage their communities in meaningful ways that foster connection with the subject matter (even people who, like me, didn’t particularly care for history). One summer has propelled a career aimed at fostering engagement between museums and communities.

The manner in which people interact with history-based organizations is changing as is the way in which we remember the past. As a museum futurist, I hope to work with organizations like mine to ensure we continue to have thriving, relevant, agile museums that are seen as vital to the social, cultural, and educational fabrics of our communities. I hope to work with colleagues across the field so we can all begin to anticipate change and prepare for the future because we all benefit from understanding, mapping, and influencing the future for which we are destined to exist.”

With the support of the scholarship, Terrance will attend the University of Houston’s Foresight Certificate program in late April. At this 5-day, project-based, face-to-face workshop he’ll learn the basics of understanding, mapping, and influencing the future. He will be sharing thoughts about the course and subsequent experiences with foresight here on the Blog.

This scholarship was made possible by individual donations by Alliance board and former board members, and by our own staff. We hope to offer one or more scholarships each year in coming years. If you are interested in helping to underwrite future foresight scholarships please contact Eileen Goldspiel, director of institutional giving, at egoldspiel (at) aam-us.org.

We received twenty-eight applications for the scholarship from the US and abroad. It was tremendously difficult to select just one of these aspiring futurists to receive the award. If you are interested in adding foresight to your portfolio of professional skills, I encourage you to consider other ways to fund your participation in the course as well. The $3,000 registration fee is incredibly inexpensive for a 5 day course. I’d be happy to help you make the case to your employer (be it a museum or a private firm) that this is a valuable investment in professional training.

Yours from the future,

Elizabeth

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