Jane Pickering was appointed as the William and Muriel Seabury Howells Director of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology in July 2019. After a decade working in museums in the U.K., she moved to the U.S. to be Director of the MIT Museum in 1998. At MIT she oversaw an extensive museum-wide reorganization to support a new mission focused on engagement with the campus, enhanced collections care, and expanded public programs. In 2002 she joined the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History where she was Director of Public Programs and Deputy Director of the Museum. She moved to Harvard in January 2013, to become the Executive Director of the Harvard Museums of Science & Culture, a partnership of six Harvard museums that is responsible for the public face of the museums as well as initiatives that serve the Harvard community. 

During her career Jane has focused on the unique opportunities available to university museums to serve communities both on and off campus, through her work as an administrator as well as leadership of collection-based projects, exhibitions, and the development of innovative programs in informal education. She has been a Principal Investigator on multiple federal grants from the Institute of Museum & Library Services, National Science Foundation, and NASA, and has published on many aspects of museum practice.

Jane has an MA degree in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge, U.K., an MS degree in Museum Studies from the University of Leicester, U.K., and is an Associate of the U.K. Museums Association. She is also an alumna of the Getty Leadership Program’s Museum Management Institute. Appointed by President Obama, she served on the National Museum and Library Services Board from 2016 – 2020.