Position Opening: Director, Penn Museum

As the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (“Penn Museum” or the “Museum”) approaches its 125th anniversary in 2012, it continues to pursue its four major missions: collections management, research, education, and public outreach. The results are impressive: a vast collection of more than one million objects, unique excavation and expedition archives from over 400 Museum-sponsored projects, a dynamic schedule of exhibitions and public programs, research connections around the world, and educational resources for both the University’s students as well as others in the Philadelphia region and beyond. It is recognized as the leading museum of its kind in the United States, and one of a handful of great archaeology/anthropology museums in the world.

Since its founding in 1887, the Penn Museum has shifted its primary focus from collecting (particularly through its own expeditions to every inhabited continent) to stewardship and education. The Museum continues to undertake new research and constantly strives to present the world’s cultures to the public in its galleries, as well as through a wide range of educational outreach programs utilizing its collections from the ancient Mediterranean, Egypt, Near East, South and East Asia, and Central America, as well as anthropological materials from the Americas, Oceania, and North and sub-Saharan Africa. Certain individual pieces are world-renowned, such as “Ram-in-the-Thicket” from the royal cemetery at Ur, and the Sphinx of Ramesses II.

The Penn Museum has dedicated staff involved with all aspects of its mission, and increasingly with the University and wider community. The Museum has served, and will continue to serve, as a major teaching resource for Penn faculty. Its collections and the results of its past research are increasingly made available to students and researchers on campus and abroad, particularly as a number of digital initiatives come into their own. At the same time, it is growing in popularity as a destination for the public. To become more of a public destination, the Museum has built an exhibitions team that has embarked upon a strategy of exhibiting one major timed-ticketed exhibition and multiple smaller exhibitions annually. A pressing question for the Museum leadership is how to meet the needs of its varied constituencies: Penn students and faculty, international scholars, global cultural heritage partners, cultural tourists, and not least, the Philadelphia region’s diverse population of families, individuals, and school children.

As a physical structure, the Penn Museum consists of six separate wings and four enclosed gardens, completed in phases from 1899 to 2004, which form one of the most intriguing buildings in Philadelphia. It is included in the University of Pennsylvania Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places. The building houses 32 exhibition galleries, the historic Chinese Rotunda, and the 750-seat Harrison Auditorium below, with two smaller auditoriums (Rainey Auditorium and Widener Hall), a public café, group dining for school groups, two shops, a breathtaking archive, numerous classrooms and scientific laboratories, more than two dozen storerooms for its collections, and the offices for a Museum staff of more than 100 full-time employees. In addition, the Museum also houses the University’s Department of Anthropology, a segment of the Penn Libraries comprising three floors of books on anthropology and archaeology, and, since 2009, the Penn Humanities Forum. In 2010, the Museum completed the first phase of a multi-million dollar renovation of the West Wing of its original 1899 building, which resulted in refurbished galleries to house special exhibitions and, for the first time, centralized climate control in that wing. Additional phases will include the creation of a new suite of conservation and teaching labs, and the restoration of Widener Hall to become a multi-purpose space for lectures, entertainment, and public events.

The Role

Reporting to the Provost of the University of Pennsylvania, the Director is the leader of the Museum. He/she is responsible for forging Penn Museum’s strategic vision and ensuring its financial health; overseeing the stewardship of a vast, unparalleled collection; promoting, integrating, and strengthening the research, education, and public outreach missions; and furthering its thriving exhibitions program. The Director must be a champion in fundraising, identifying strategic priorities for endowments, gallery revitalizations, infrastructure improvements, and programs. He/she will work with curatorial faculty and staff in support of research, deepening its relevance to University goals, as well as expanding the synergies with Penn’s educational mission. The Director is responsible for the Museum’s personnel (a staff of around 100, as well as 17 curatorial faculty) and the financial management of a budget of approximately $20 million, in an era when meeting financial goals for cultural institutions, including fundraising targets, is challenging across the board.

In leading the Museum, the Director benefits from the advice and counsel of a distinguished and engaged group of external Overseers. He/she represents the Penn Museum within the Greater Philadelphia cultural and civic arena, often working collaboratively with other Philadelphia cultural institutions. The Director must also collaborate with departmental and senior leadership across Penn’s schools, in particular the School of Arts and Sciences, and with senior administrators across the University in support of research and teaching. He/she must assure that the museum is at the forefront in identifying and successfully responding to opportunities, and be committed to proactively forging cooperative partnerships with other institutions. The Director is the Museum’s primary spokesperson before internal and external audiences alike.

Candidate Profile

The Director of the Penn Museum must have outstanding leadership abilities, with experience overseeing a museum or similarly complex organization. The successful candidate must have excellent organizational and strategic skills, with a demonstrated ability to manage people effectively and an understanding of museum operations and collections.

While a faculty appointment at the University is not required, scholarly credentials and an ability to work effectively with faculty and academic administrators are necessary. An advanced degree in archeology, anthropology or related fields is preferred.

Given that the Director represents the Museum within and outside the University, and champions archaeological and anthropological research and education using the museum’s vast intellectual resources, he/she must enjoy operating in the public arena, speaking in a variety of public settings, and be highly adept at building creative alliances.

The Director must also be an enthusiastic and proven fundraiser, highly knowledgeable in financial matters and committed to augmenting the museum’s financial resources.

We would highlight the following competencies:

• Creative Vision: The successful candidate will be able to guide and substantially contribute to the continued articulation of the identity, values, mission, and strategy for the Penn Museum, particularly through the Museum’s curatorial and programming efforts. He or she will have the creativity and vision to construct nuanced plans and objectives that upon implementation will bring to life an inspirational future for the organization.
• Leadership: The successful candidate will have a track record of displaying strong strategic judgment, and will be able to develop a compelling and challenging strategy for the organization that anticipates market changes while taking into consideration the unique nature of the Penn Museum and the culture of the University. He or she will demonstrate an expansive knowledge of the key issues affecting the institution’s work and an ability to develop a productive and mutually fulfilling relationship with staff, faculty curators, university administrators, Museum Overseers and donors, and based on a collaborative, stimulating approach, tempered by good judgment.
• Communicating, Influencing, and Building Relationships: The successful candidate will exhibit a consensus-seeking but decisive approach that enables him or her to deliver solutions in difficult situations. He or she will persuasively communicate the Museum’s direction and strategy both internally and externally, and will assure effective communication among the Museum’s stakeholders. He or she will be able to actively promote Penn and its programs to build enthusiastic commitment and develop key partnerships in support of its mission internally, throughout the University, nationally and internationally.
• Management of Teams and Resources: The successful candidate will be able to translate over-arching goals into clear objectives for staff and other members of the Museum community. He or she will foster a culture of collaboration, mutual respect, and teamwork. This person will have the ability to counsel and coach the senior management team for success; he or she will respect, encourage, and celebrate the talents of that team while also holding each accountable to mutually agreed-upon goals. The successful candidate will demonstrate extensive experience attracting, retaining, and motivating top talent. Additionally, he or she will approach the financial oversight of the Penn Museum with dispassion and balance, with an even-handed and reasoned approach to budgetary decision-making based on a clear understanding of the strategic objectives of the organization.

Contact
The Penn Museum has engaged Russell Reynolds Associates exclusively for this search. Interested candidates are encouraged to contact either Alison Ranney or Laurie Nash. Please submit a CV and Letter of Interest electronically to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .