Ken Hickman currently serves as Director of the Penn State All-Sports Museum. A 1998 graduate of Penn State, he returned to assume his current post in 2006. Hickman oversees all aspects of the Museum’s operations including exhibit development, collections growth and preservation, administration, and public and educational programming. Founded in 2002, the Museum honors the achievements and sacrifices made by the men and women who have built Penn State’s proud tradition of athletic success. Additionally, he plays a leading role in the Penn State University Museum Consortium which coordinates activities between museums and collections on the University Park campus. Under his leadership, the Museum received a 2019 Institutional Achievement Award from PA Museums, and he was a 2021 recipient of the John H. Ziegler Historic Preservation Award.
Prior to returning to Penn State, he served as curator (2001-2006) and director of development (2005-2006) at the USS Constellation Museum (now Historic Ships in Baltimore) in Baltimore, MD and as curator (2000-2001) at the US Merchant Marine Academy’s American Merchant Marine Museum in Kings Point, NY. He has consistently played active roles in several professional organizations including nine years on the board of directors for the Small Museum Association (President, 2007-2009) as well as having served on national committees for the American Alliance of Museums and the American Association for State and Local History. A veteran of several History Channel programs, he has written extensively on a variety of history-related topics and was a featured writer for ThoughtCo.com (formerly About.com) for thirteen years.
A native of West Chester, PA, he earned his bachelor’s degree in history and political science from Penn State in 1998 and a master’s degree in history with museum studies certificate from the University of Delaware in 2000. Following additional coursework in nonprofit management at Goucher College and Johns Hopkins University, he attained a master’s degree in information and library science from Drexel University in 2014.
