Apr

People on the Move

Daniel Sheehy, left, became Acting Director of the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage on April 13. He replaced Richard Kennedy, who retired from the Smithsonian after more than 20 years of service. Kennedy had been serving as Acting Director of the Center since October 2007.

Kennedy came to SI to curate the Hawaii program for the 1989 Folklife Festival. In 1994, he was named deputy director of the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage and continued to co-curate major festival programs on Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Tibetan Culture, Oman, the Mekong River region and Bhutan.

Sheehy has served as director and curator of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings since 2000. Under his leadership, Smithsonian Folkways has released more than 150 recordings and earned more than a dozen Grammy awards and nominations. He has overseen the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archive and efforts to digitize the Folkways collections and make them widely accessible through the Smithsonian Global Sound and Folkways Web sites. He also served last year as the acting director of the Latino Center.

American Indian
Jessica Johnson, senior objects conservator for almost 10 years, is leaving to become program director of the Collections Conservation and Management Program for the Iraq Cultural Heritage Project in Erbil, Iraq. The program is designed to focus U.S. and international resources and expertise on rebuilding the professional capabilities of Iraq’s museum, heritage and archaeological organizations.

SI Libraries
Mary Augusta Thomas, left, is the new deputy director. She previously served as the associate director for Reader Services and Strategic Planning for SIL. Thomas’s new responsibilities include directing the operation of the Libraries’ 20 branches, working with staff on library planning issues and directing the administrative services office for the Libraries.

Melinda Jane Tomerlin has accepted a new position as a copy cataloger in the Cataloging Department. She worked previously at the NMAI library at the Cultural Resources Center in Suitland, Md.

Ninette Dean, right, is a new management support specialist with the Administrative Services Office. She will assist with contracts, complete purchase orders and perform other administrative duties. She worked previously as a cataloger for SIL’s Technical Services Department.

Air and Space
Elizabeth Wilson has joined the development staff as National Air and Space Society and Wall of Honor manager. She comes to SI from the Holocaust Museum and prior to that she ran the membership program at Detroit’s Henry Ford Museum.