Isra El-Beshir Director of Museums

540-458-8767
ielbeshir@wlu.edu

Isra El-beshir has 13 years of experience in higher education, museums, and community development. She has dedicated the past seven years to leading and fostering equity-driven initiatives and creating sustainable networks of cooperation, engagement, and partnerships through social justice, arts, and culture. Isra is currently the Director of Museums at Washington and Lee University, overseeing the Reeves Museum of Ceramics and Watson Galleries. She joined the Museums in 2020 as the Associate Director of Museums. In addition to leading the Museums, she teaches Art History 398: Seminar in Museum Studies.

Prior to joining the W&L community, Isra was the founding Director of the Illinois Art Station, a program of Illinois State University. She also served as a development consultant for Obsidian Literature and Arts in the African Diaspora, a premier African American journal currently housed at Illinois State University. Isra was formerly the Curator of Education and Public Programming at the Arab American National Museum, a Smithsonian affiliate, and the only museum of its kind in the United States. Isra has worked with various social service providers in the metro Detroit area, working primarily with immigrant and refugee communities, and helping organizations grow with purpose and integrity.

Isra currently serves on the Advisory Council of Held in Trust, a three-year cooperative agreement between the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Foundation for Advancement in Conservation that seeks to evaluate the state of preservation and conservation of tangible and intangible cultural heritage in the United States. She chairs the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility sub-committee.

Education

M.A. Wayne State University, Cultural Anthropology
B.A. Grand Valley State University, International Business, Marketing, and Arabic