Beth Van Why
Faculty

MID '06

Museum Exhibition Planning & Design (MFA)

Beth Van Why has over 20 years of museum and design experience, and a deep understanding of the challenges that are intrinsic to the project development process. As an owner’s rep project manager with Becker & Frondorf, she works primarily with museums and cultural institutions. Before joining B&F, she was with the Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites where she was most recently the Chief Officer of Engagement. There, she oversaw exhibitions, education and programming, maintenance, security, and historic preservation teams for the 12 locations associated with ISMHS. As VP of Exhibitions she led the in-house design and renovation of six permanent galleries, creation of more than 20 temporary exhibitions throughout the system, and implementation of a new interpretive center. As part of the senior leadership team, she also worked on system-wide strategy development.

Prior to working at ISMHS, she was the Director of Exhibition Operations at the National Constitution Center where she led the travel and installation of the award-winning exhibition American Spirits. Beth has also worked as the Programming Director at DesignPhiladelphia, coordinated the Philadelphia Applied Research Lab, was a Project Director and co-founder of Urban Studio: Design Works, and has taught at a variety of universities in Philadelphia over the past 15 years. 
 
Van Why holds a master’s degree in Industrial Design from the University of the Arts, and she obtained her bachelor’s degree in Architecture with a minor in History from Virginia Tech. She has also studied printmaking, book arts, and fabrication.

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