Art Museum Names New Director Art historian and curator Tricia Y. Paik, who currently serves as curator of contemporary art at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, has been named the next Florence Finch Abbott Director of the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum. Paik, who has twenty-five years of experience in the art world, was selected after a national search led by a committee of professors, administrators, and members of the museum’s advisory board, said Jon Western, vice president for academic affairs and dean of faculty. She will join the College on November 30. As director of the museum, Paik will be responsible for leading and planning innovative curatorial, academic, and scholarly programs, directing day-to-day operations, and cultivating increased faculty engagement with the museum’s nationally acclaimed Teaching with Art program. She will also oversee
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acquisitions and fundraising, as well as new initiatives for community engagement. “I am delighted that Tricia has agreed to lead the museum,” Western said. “She has the expertise in modern and contemporary art, and the vision and the talent to bring the community into the museum and to fulfill our mission of interweaving the arts and the curriculum at Mount Holyoke. This is a key priority for the College.” Paik has held positions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and the Saint Louis Art Museum. Sophomore During her career, she Institute has curated more than thirty exhibitions and Wins Award installations. A leading The Sophomore scholar on the art of Institute, a half-day Ellsworth Kelly, Paik professional conferis the main author of ence offered every a 2015 Phaidon Press winter at Mount survey of Kelly’s life and Holyoke College, has career, the first monowon the 2016 Career graph published about Services Excellence the artist since 1971. Award from the Paik graduated cum National Association laude with a bachelor’s of Colleges and degree in English and art Employers in the history from Dartmouth small college cateCollege in 1991 and earned gory. Read more both a master’s and PhD at alumnae. from the Institute of mtholyoke.edu/ Fine Arts at New York sophomoreinstitute. University.
Mount Holyoke reached a fundraising milestone last summer as it topped the $25 million goal for the construction and renovation of a revitalized community center, a bold project that affirms the College’s commitment to community as an essential component of an exemplary liberal arts experience. Inspired by an unprecedented commitment from an anonymous donor—including both a $5 million outright gift and a $10 million, dollar-for-dollar matching challenge grant— alumnae and friends of the College stepped forward to secure the College’s philanthropic goal of $25 million toward the $50 million project that will enable a significant expansion of the current campus center into a reimagined hub for campus life. In a thank-you letter to donors, Board of Trustees Chair Barbara McLearn Baumann ’77 highlighted the importance of the project: “The center will be the new ‘heartbeat’ of the campus, serving to amplify Mount Holyoke’s dedication to strengthening community— one that draws its unique spirit from students and scholars from many different backgrounds and perspectives.” The total cost of the Community Center with Dining will be funded through private philanthropy, debt refinancing, and the issuance of new debt. In March, the College secured $25 million through a private market debt placement at the very competitive rate of 2.44 percent, thanks to the College’s status as a tax-exempt institution, low market rates, and the school’s financial strength. Blanchard Hall and Lower Lake Road were closed for the summer as site preparation began for the large addition to Blanchard. This fall, the foundation will be laid for the new addition. Meanwhile, the current campus center reopened for the school year. The expanded center will open in the spring of 2018. The targeted campaign for the Community Center was just one component of what was the most successful fundraising year in College history. Donors gave a total of $58.4 million—including $8.96 million for The Mount Holyoke Fund—this past fiscal year, the largest amount ever given in one year.
Paik: Mount Holyoke College Art Museum
Funding Secured for Community Center Project
9/21/16 3:46 PM