Clarification from the agency

Current Smithsonian Institution Internal Employees/Agency Employees Only may apply including current Smithsonian Institution employees with Federal career/career-conditional status or eligibility. More than one selection may be made from this announcement.

The Museum Curator will:

• initiate, develop, and personally participate in research programs that characteristically involve a systematic research approach to a problem area of considerable scope. 
• prepare for publication, scholarly reports of a descriptive and theoretical nature based on own field of work, on study of collection in this and other institutions, and on the existing scholarly publications.  Such publications typically are the product of a series of complete and conceptually related smaller studies and result in a single major publication that may be definitive of a specific topic area.
• define and implement plan for development of a pre-eminent collection in language and literature, civic and fraternal organizations, education, or curatorial culture (including dress, dolls, textiles, fashion) in African American material culture, keeping in mind the continuous expansion of the NMAAHC.  Verify, validate, and assure proper identification, documentation, authentication, and storage of collection.
• plan the museum’s exhibitions.  Develop special exhibitions as well, for and about language and literature, civic and fraternal organizations, education, or curatorial culture (including dress, dolls, textiles, fashion) in African American material culture and is technically responsible for such plans with limitation imposed by budget, time schedules, and policy. 
• serve as expert and consultant on professional matters in field to other government agencies, colleagues, writers, educational institutions, research foundations, and the public. 

Conditions of employment

• Requires career/career-conditional status or eligibility.
• Males born after 12/31/59 must be registered with Selective Service.

Conditions of Employment

Qualification requirements, including one year time-in-grade at the next lower grade level for promotion candidates, must be met within 30 days of the job announcement closing date. See the 'Required Documents' section for additional information.

For information on qualification requirements, see Qualification Standards Handbook for General Schedule Positions viewable on OPM Website.

Qualifications

Basic Qualification:

1. Degree: museum work; or in an applicable subject-matter field. or
2. Combination of education and experience -- courses equivalent to a major, as shown in 1 above, plus appropriate experience or additional education. or
3. Four years of experience that provided knowledge comparable to that normally acquired through the successful completion of the 4-year course of study as shown in A above.

In addition to the basic qualification requirement above:

Experience: You qualify for this position if you have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-11 level in the Federal Service.  For this position, specialized experience is defined as demonstrated experience conducting scholarly research and producing publications related to language and literature, civic and fraternal organizations, education, or curatorial culture (including dress, dolls, textiles, fashion); participating in public service efforts; developing a collection of artifacts; serving as a consultant on professional matters; and answering public inquiries. 

Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community, student, social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

Part-time and/or unpaid experience related to this position will be considered to determine the total number of years and months of experience. Be sure to note the number of paid or unpaid hours worked each week.

Special Instructions for Foreign Education: If you are qualifying by education and/or you have education completed in a foreign college/university described above, it is your responsibility to provide transcripts and proof of U.S. accreditation for foreign study. For instructions on where to fax these documents, see the "Required Documents" section of this announcement.

In an effort to streamline our hiring process, SI employees whose current position of record is in the same job series (1015) and who are in a Federal competitive  service appointment as this advertised position, are not required to submit a transcript with your application package. However, if selected, you will be required to provide a copy of your transcript before your start date in the position.

Time-in-Grade Requirements: Under competitive merit promotion procedures, any individual who is currently holding, or who has held within the previous 52 weeks, a General Schedule position under a non-temporary appointment in the competitive or excepted service, must meet "time-in-grade" requirements (have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade of the grade for which you are applying).

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

Your application will be evaluated first for the basic qualifications described above. The applications that meet the basic qualifications will be evaluated further against the following criteria:

1. Skill in conducting research for and about African Americans’ language and literature, civic and fraternal organizations, education, and curatorial culture (including dress, dolls, textiles, fashion).
2. Ability to communicate in writing.
3. Ability to organize, develop, maintain, and refine collections of artifacts illustrating and documenting language and literature, civic and fraternal organizations, education, and curatorial culture (including dress, dolls, textiles, fashion) by and about African Americans.
4. Skill in planning and implementing museum exhibitions related to language and literature, civic and fraternal organizations, education, and curatorial culture (including dress, dolls, textiles, fashion).
5. Ability to communicate orally.

Important Note:

Your resume and supporting documentation will be compared to your responses to the occupational questionnaire or other assessment tool for consistency. If a determination is made that you have rated yourself higher than is supported by your resume, you will be assigned a rating commensurate to your described experience. Your resume should provide detailed information regarding how your education and experience relate to this position, including the major duties and qualifications criteria listed.