{"id":78596,"date":"2026-08-24T08:21:28","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T15:21:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=78596"},"modified":"2026-08-24T08:21:28","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T15:21:28","slug":"jacks-in-a-flash-becky-pratt-sturges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/jacks-in-a-flash-becky-pratt-sturges\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacks in a Flash \u2013 Becky Pratt-Sturges"},"content":{"rendered":"

Becky Pratt-Sturges, an associate teaching professor of museum studies and art\u00a0history,\u00a0has led the\u00a0revitalization of the\u00a0museum\u00a0studies program. She talked\u00a0to The NAU Review\u00a0about coming to NAU as a student,\u00a0the pressing issues facing\u00a0museums\u00a0and\u00a0why\u00a0the President\u2019s Distinguished Teaching Fellow award,\u00a0which she recently won, means so much to her.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Te<\/span><\/b>ll us about the Museum Studies program.<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

I designed the program to create meaningful learning experiences that help students develop real-world skills, build professional\u00a0portfolios\u00a0and prepare for internships, graduate school\u00a0and careers in cultural heritage and related fields.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After researching some of the most pressing challenges facing museums and cultural institutions today and investigating the legal and ethical issues surrounding the repatriation of ancient artifacts and the restitution of art stolen by the Nazis during World War II, next spring the program will have a new course on\u00a0blood antiquities, which examines how looted ancient objects move through global criminal networks and generate funding for terrorism, arms trafficking, violence\u00a0and other illicit activities. This course will bring together history, archaeology, art history, museum studies, ethics,\u00a0law\u00a0and criminology, giving students an opportunity to uncover the complex and often surprising stories behind objects in museum collections.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tell\u00a0us\u00a0about\u00a0your history at NAU.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n

I’m\u00a0a proud Lumberjack! I earned my B.A. in\u00a0art\u00a0history at NAU before completing my M.A. and Ph.D. in\u00a0art\u00a0history at Arizona State University. In 2013, I returned to NAU and joined the Department of Comparative Cultural Studies. Since then, I have taught more than 30 courses across humanities, art\u00a0history\u00a0and museum studies. Today, I primarily teach museum studies courses, where I help students explore everything from digital exhibition design and museum practice to specialized topics such as art crime, exhibit development and the repatriation and restitution of\u00a0different kinds\u00a0of cultural heritage.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What does winning the President\u2019s Distinguished Teaching Fellow award mean to you?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n

As an NAU alum, receiving this award\u00a0means\u00a0a great deal to me. Over the past four years, I led the revitalization of the Museum Studies program, transforming it into a dynamic, career-focused curriculum that combines hands-on learning and innovative teaching practices. My focus is always helping students connect classroom learning to their future goals. I also mentor students through internships, undergraduate research, graduate school\u00a0applications\u00a0and career exploration.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The award is an engraved\u00a0medal,\u00a0and I felt incredibly proud to wear it at commencement while celebrating with my students.\u00a0Above all, I\u00a0felt humbled by the nomination and grateful for the opportunity to contribute to a university community that has given so much to me.\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Becky Pratt-Sturges, an associate teaching professor of museum studies and art\u00a0history,\u00a0has led the\u00a0revitalization of the\u00a0museum\u00a0studies program. She talked\u00a0to The NAU Review\u00a0about coming to NAU as a student,\u00a0the pressing issues facing\u00a0museums\u00a0and\u00a0why\u00a0the President\u2019s Distinguished Teaching Fellow award,\u00a0which she recently won, means so much to her.\u00a0 Tell us about the Museum Studies program. I designed the program to…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3019,"featured_media":78598,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1830],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-jacks-in-a-flash"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78596"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78596\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78600,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78596\/revisions\/78600"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}