Director’s Letter 5th & University / March 2022

 
Warmest of greetings from your University of Mississippi Museum and William Faulkner’s Rowan Oak! — both museum sites are open daily and eagerly welcome your visits, and those of any friends, family, or associates you may wish to accompany or send our way. The Museum is open 10:00 a.m.– 4:00 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and Rowan Oak those hours also, with the addition of Sundays 1:00 – 4:00 p.m.

I have a degree of truncated writing opportunity this month as I share news of some emergent high-priority activity that is claiming my attention. Over the next six weeks we have two professional staff-position openings to fill, via the University’s framework for Posting/Search/Hire processes now underway.

The first up of these is for the Curator of Education position very recently vacated by our colleague Stacy Bell who has relocated with her husband and newborn son to Bethesda, Maryland to be closer to many family members. We deeply celebrate Stacy’s work with us, which was so notable for its high degree of performance, dedication to duty, warmth of spirit, and consistent professionalism. Stacy, we are missing you greatly, already – thank you so much for your service to the Museum!

The second position will post on or around the first week of March and holds the unique museum-field title of Preparator. This role in museums nationwide fulfills many essential duties which include light construction, fabrication, and build-outs of everything from exhibit casework to infrastructure needs in any part of the museum building, and also similarly for Rowan Oak. The site of most of this construction is a back-of-house carpentry workshop fully equipped with a wide range of power equipment and tools, many of them funded by the gracious support of the Friends of the Museum board. Our former colleague Travis Turner departed the Preparator position during the height of the pandemic to return home to his college town and hometown of Meadville, Pennsylvania.

We will keep you fully apprised of the outcomes of the two searches, and we remain highly confident that experienced and accomplished professionals will be attracted to roles at the University of Mississippi Museum, as has historically always been the case

In the interim, warmest of regards to all! For other Museum news and updates please follow this monthly e-newsletter, and watch our website and Rowan Oak’s website — where links to our social media platforms can also be found.

Sincerely,

 
Robert Saarnio's signature
Robert Saarnio 
Museum Director