My Biz: Children’s Museum chief sees play as key to learning

Name: Deb Dunkhase

Title: Executive director

Company: Iowa Children's Museum

Address: 1451 Coral Ridge Ave., Coralville

Phone: (319) 625-6255

Website: http://theicm.org/

Elevator speech: Learning and playing? They're the same thing here.

You might say “play” is one of Deb Dunkhase's job requirements as executive director of the Iowa Children's Museum (ICM).

The ICM - housed inside Coralridge Mall in Coralville - boasts a variety of fun-filled exhibits and programs that encourage kids to play, learn and have fun in a very hands-on way.

“Our dynamic exhibits and programs set the stage for deep learning that's connected to real-life experiences,” said Dunkhase. “Plus it's crazy fun.”

Dunkhase believes play is essential to learning.

“I began working for the museum because I was really excited about the concept of active learning in an informal family environment that would impact the development of creativity, problem solving and innovative thinking in kids,” she said.

The museum sees 137,000 annual visitors, a figure the ICM hopes to push to 150,000 in the coming year.

During her typical 60-hour workweek, Dunkhase takes charge of a wide variety of projects - everything from fundraising, grant writing and working with the board of directors to managing staff (12 full time and 15 part time), developing new projects and engaging in community collaborations and exhibit development.

Perhaps one of Dunkhase's favorite parts of her job is developing new exhibits for the museum.

“I love the challenge of finding engaging, fun ways to help kids understand concepts. Plus, I see the results of my work every day, which is pretty awesome,” she said.

“A smile of the face of a child makes every bit of work I do feel worthwhile, and if I catch a glimpse of an ‘a-ha' moment of a new understanding, that's just the best.”

Dunkhase, who grew up on a small farm in southern Iowa, started volunteering in junior high, reading stories to children at the local library. After receiving her degree in sociology from University of Colorado, Dunkhase spent the first part of her career working in the field of child abuse.

She also worked for the University of Iowa in the Science Education Center with teacher professional development. That led to her being hired by the ICM as the director of education in 1998, before being promoted to executive director in 2002.

Maybe Dunkhase enjoys working with children because she and her siblings excelled at play growing up.

“We created all sorts of pretend games and one of my favorites was playing ‘Drive-In.' We'd confiscate all kinds of goodies from the kitchen, open a window on the first floor of our house and set up a drive-in restaurant.

“Then we'd ride our bikes around and around the house and stop at the window to place our orders.”