Frankfort, KY - Karla J. Nicholson is the Kentucky Historical Society’s new director of education. Her responsibilities include supervising an educational services staff of about 25 who oversee museum education, teacher and school programs, community and statewide services programs, and the Kentucky folklife program.
Nicholson brings a nationwide perspective to her KHS responsibilities. From 2003 to 2006, she served as director of programs for the American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) in Nashville, Tennessee. There, Nicholson’s primary responsibilities included planning AASLH’s national professional development programs and workshop series. She also supervised the development of the organization’s newsletter, book, and magazine publications.
Having served as the Kentucky Historical Society’s community services branch manager and statewide services specialist for the nine years prior to her AASLH appointment, Nicholson knows Kentucky community historical organizations and professionals well. Her duties during that time focused on overseeing the work of the student and teacher services, the Resource Center for Heritage Education, historical highway markers, local history grants programs, cemetery preservation programs, and the Historical Confederation of Kentucky. She was also an active participant in KHS and statewide initiatives.
Nicholson also served as the director of the Monroe County Historical Museum in Bloomington, Indiana. She earned her undergraduate degree from Carson-Newman College in Tennessee and did additional graduate study in folklore and American Studies at Indiana University and in education at Georgia State University. She has presented and written extensively on the topic of standards and training for museums and historical organizations.
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An agency of the Kentucky Commerce Cabinet, the Kentucky Historical Society, since 1836, has provided connections to the past, perspective on the present, and inspiration for the future. KHS operates the Old State Capitol, the Kentucky Military History Museum and its seven-year-old headquarters, the Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History. Since 1999, the $30 million Center for Kentucky History has welcomed almost one million visitors. For more information about the Kentucky Historical Society and its programs, visit the Web at http://history.ky.gov.