Whitney Owens is chief learning officer for the Cincinnati Museum Center in Ohio. She was appointed in 2015, and the role includes leading the museum’s education, engagement, exhibitions development and research across the Cincinnati Museum Center’s activities.
She has led the redesign of the exhibits at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Centre, including a new Social Justice gallery, and has recently headed the redevelopment of the Cincinnati Museum Center’s permanent galleries. While the museum was closed for refurbishment, Owens led community engagement, developing an outreach project that reached 200 sites over 1500 square miles.
Diversity, equity, access, and inclusion are at the core of Owens’ projects. A notable example is the Public Landing exhibition, which recreates the Cincinnati riverfront in the mid-19th century. Under Owens’ lead, this exhibit was redisplayed with more diverse shopfronts, which created a more accurate representation of the local area at the time.
Cincinnati Museum Center is a unique, multi-attraction organisation located in a historic Art Deco train station. It includes the Cincinnati History Museum, Museum of Natural History and Science, The Children’s Museum, the Cincinnati History Library and Archives, and the Robert D. Lindner Family OMNIMAX Theater. The Cincinnati Museum Center also partners with the Ohio Chapter of the Nature Conservancy to support a 16,000-acre nature reserve.
Owens has been working in the museum sector for over 25 years. Before joining Cincinnati Museum Center, she was vice president of education and guest experience at the Great Lakes Science Center in Ohio, where she co-founded the Center for Innovation in STEM Education and Led Cleveland Creates, which connects makers to advanced innovation.
She is a leadership council member for the Women’s Fund of the Greater Cincinnati Foundation, a fellow of the IDEAL Center at the Science Museum of Minnesota, and a board member for the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company. She has previously served as board president of the Association of Midwest Museums and a board member for the Jewish Cincinnati Bicentennial.