Museum Hours and Visiting Information
The Hefner Museum is open to the public from 9am-4pm Monday - Friday.
As you plan your visit during Summer 2023, confirm that the museum will be open by checking our hours on google.
The Museum is open the following Saturdays from 10am-2pm
May 6, 13th
The Museum is closed University holidays, including:
- Monday, May 29 in honor of Memorial Day
- Monday, June 19 in celebration of Juneteenth
- Tuesday, July 4 in celebration of the 4th of July
To coordinate school or group tours, contact Steve Sullivan at 708-937-6253 or email (sulliv55@miamioh.edu) or Julie Robinson (robins48@miamioh.edu).
The Museum Discovery Trunks and related objects are available for loan to any educator. Please click here to review our education offerings.
The Imaginarium is getting a much needed facelift thanks to a grant from the Ohio Environmental Education Fund. We anticipate reopening the Imaginarium spring 2022. While we finish that work, we look forward to your visiting the Hefner Museum Main Gallery.
About the Hefner Museum
The Hefner Museum of Natural History uses exhibits, collections and specimens, and interactive programs to teach visitors of all ages about animal biodiversity, conservation, and ecology.
More than 60 years ago, Robert A. Hefner, Chair of the Department of Zoology at Miami University, established a museum to display the department's many specimens and artifacts. Before long, the museum became an integral part of many college courses, a favorite field trip for area school children, and an inviting destination for Oxford families. Today, it is a local fixture, having served generations of Miami students, faculty, and area residents. And while it houses more than 53,000 specimens, the Hefner Museum of Natural History is far more than the sum of its collections. It is an archive of experiences, a repository of memories, a keeper of stories.
49th Hefner Lecture with James W. Porter Ph.D.
James W. Porter, Ph.D., "superstar scientist." will present the 49th annual Hefner Lecture “Blurring the Lines between Medicine and Ecology while Saving Coral Reefs in the Florida Keys” at 7:30pm on November 9th 2023 in Laws Hall Room 100, with a reception at the Museum afterwards.
Dr. Porter's expertise and influence is diverse. He is an expert in coral, climate change, and the connections between these issues and human health and social justice. He was the scientific advisor of the award-winning film "Chasing Coral" (presently on Netflix) and their educational and outreach materials. His testimony before Congress on the connections between coral and productive human society "greatly influenced the U.S.’s decision to sign this U.N. Ocean Biodiversity Treaty."
Meg Lowman Professional Lecture on "Mission Green"
Watch the 2022 Hefner Lecturer Meg Lowman Ph.D.'s professional seminar "Mission Green: How Forest Canopies Inspire Global Forest Conservation" on YouTube. This presentation was given as part of the Miami University's weekly Biology Seminar program.
You can watch a recording of the 48th Hefner Lecture "The Arbornaut" here.