08/13/96

Contact: Adrie Nab, Ohio University, 614/593-2200

ATHENS, Ohio -- A six-member committee has been appointed to conduct a search for a new director of the Kennedy Museum of American Art at Ohio University.

The search follows the resignation of interim director Charles Shepard III, who left the university July 31 to accept a position at Connecticut College. Ohio University Vice President for University Relations Adrie Nab, who oversees operations of the museum, will serve as acting director until the position is filled.

The search committee is chaired by James Stewart, interim dean of the College of Fine Arts. Committee members are Claire Ping, a member of the Kennedy Museum Board of Directors; Ursula Lawson, president of Friends of the Kennedy Museum; G. Kenner Bush, publisher of The Athens Messenger; Sally Delgado, assistant to the museum director for outreach programs; and Marilyn Bradshaw, associate professor of art.

The committee will launch a national search, and a new director is scheduled to be hired before January. The museum is scheduled to open after the new director is hired.

The museum will be located in the former central administration building of the Athens Mental Health Center on The Ridges, which has undergone a three-year, $5 million renovation. The first phase of the museum features nine galleries, museum offices and work spaces on the first two floors of the 1868 Victorian red brick building.

The museum will house the university's contemporary print, photography, American paintings, sculpture and Southwest Native American collections, along with rotating exhibits of ceramics, paintings and sculpture.