Executive Director
Sara Fisher sfisher@iwasm.org
Sara joined the team at IWASM in November 2020. Before coming to the museum, she ran one of only two history-focused AmeriCorps programs in the country. She has more than eight years experience in the museum, historical society, public history, and archives field. Sara previously worked as the Curator/Collections Manager at the Lakewood Historical Society, AmeriCorps member with the Quaker Heritage Center of Wilmington College and the Oberlin Heritage Center, the Ohio History Connection as AmeriCorps Manager & Local History Services Coordinator, and Community and Operations Manager at CoWork Oberlin. Since 2013, she’s worked with more than 40 local history museums in Ohio to better serve their communities, care for their historic collections, develop interactive programming, establish strategic planning, and more. Sara is actively engaged with the Ohio Local History Alliance, American Association for State & Local History (AASLH), and National Council on Public History. In 2018, she served as Impact, Relevance and Engagement Co-Team Lead for the StEPs Enhancement Project, which brought together professionals from across the country to update the StEPs (Standards of Excellence Program) workbook for small to medium size history organizations.
She earned a B.A. in History with a Women & Gender Studies Certificate from Ohio University, and a M.A. in History concentrating in Public History from Wright State University. One of her pet research interests are the “Night Witches” – the nickname given to the all-female 588th Night Bomber Regiment of the Soviet Union during WWII.
Collections Manager
Katherine Behnke kbehnke@iwasm.org
Katherine has always enjoyed history which led her to IWASM. During her last semester at Cleveland State University, she was IWASM’s collections intern. After graduating with her Master’s in History with a specialization in Museum Studies in May 2018, Katherine continued at the museum. Prior to grad school, Katherine graduated from Ohio State University in 2016 with a Bachelor of Arts in History. As an undergrad, she spent a semester studying at the University of Westminster in London. Katherine enjoys reading, traveling and writing.
Katherine oversees our entire collection, works with researchers, and designs exhibits.
