Legal Dictionary for Museum Professionals

Heather Hope Kuruvilla is an instructor in arts administration in the master¿s programs at Kutztown University and University of Kentucky, and a past instructor in the museum professions master¿s program at Seton Hall University. She teaches in the areas of ethical and legal issues and civic engagement through the arts. A museum professional with special interests in the areas of intellectual property, museum governance, civic engagement, and the ethical and thoughtful approach to deaccessioning, Kuruvilläs past research interests include the intersection of ethics and the law in museum deaccessioning and the impact of the Visual Artists Rights Act on museums. Her seminar article on deaccessioning was awarded honorable mention in the 2011 Lawyers¿ Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation student writing competition.

Kuruvilla has professional museum experience in the areas of intellectual property management, exhibit design, and non-profit management. She received her B.A. in art history and psychology from Douglass College, Rutgers University (New Brunswick, NJ), post-baccalaureate certificate in art history from Studio Art Centers International (Florence, Italy), M.A. with honors in museum professions from Seton Hall University (South Orange, NJ), and J.D. with a certificate in intellectual property: art & museum law from DePaul University College of Law (Chicago, IL).

The recipient of multiple awards, including the CALI Award for Excellence in Cultural Property Law Seminar and the Art Law Award from the Center for Art, Museum & Cultural Heritage Law, Kuruvilla is also a Leopold Schepp Foundation Scholar. While a student, she clerked for the Honorable Arlander Keys of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and the Honorable La Quietta Hardy-Campbell of the Circuit Court of Cook County, and upon graduation she clerked for the Honorable Melvin Gelade of the New Jersey Superior Court. A strong believer in the importance of service to the museum field, Kuruvilla has participated in panels, discussions, and workshops at regional and national museum conferences and currently serves on a task force for AASLH updating a position paper for the field.