In a vote late last month, the New York State Board of Regents awarded full accreditation to the Richard Gilder Graduate School at the American Museum of Natural History, the first Ph.D.-degree granting program at a U.S. museum.
I heard this was pending, and am so excited! New York has no shortage of world-class museums, but the AMNH has long been my favorite museum in the entire city, bar none. I took my youngest niece there in October to spend the night (yes, they actually have a program where you can bring kids and stay overnight in the museum); we slept under the life-size model of a blue whale, and it was The Best Thing EVER.
A friend did an internship there 2 summers ago, and so he was able to give me the behind-the-scenes tour--the areas where they store all the things not on display, and make the models, etc. etc.--and it was The Next Best Thing Ever.
If you ever come to NYC, you MUST go. The planetarium alone, from the architecture to the fantastic space show, is a must.
I may actually look into taking courses there.