Gardner museum director to address students on role of cultural institutions today

[NORTON, Mass.] -- The director of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Anne Hawley, visits Wheaton College Thursday, Feb. 8 as part of the Wheaton Distinguished Fellows Program. Recently named one of Wheaton's Distinguished Fellows for 2001, Hawley will share her insights into the changing and critical role of cultural institutions today and career opportunities in the arts. Hawley will meet with students at the Filene Center for Work and Learning and in a studio arts class before giving a public lecture in the Watson Lecture Hall at 4 p.m.

"We're at an important juncture in determining how we define culture in our society," explains Hawley. "I'm pleased to have this opportunity to connect with Wheaton students on the role they can play in ensuring that arts and cultural institutions continue to enrich and touch each one of us."

Hawley began her tenure as director of the Gardner Museum in 1989 and has overseen the renewal of the institution through its artistic and scholarly programs as well as through a successful fund-raising campaign aimed at conservation of the building and collection. Active in arts, cultural and community affairs, Hawley serves as a trustee of the Association of Art Museum Directors, vice chair of the Fenway Alliance of Boston, and as a director of Save Venice, Inc. She also is an accreditor for the Accreditation Commission of the American Association of Museums. Before joining the Gardner Museum, Hawley founded the Cultural Education Collaborative and led the Massachusetts Council on Arts and the Humanities. She received her B.A. from the University of Iowa and her M.A. from George Washington University.

The Wheaton Distinguished Fellows Program seeks to expose Wheaton students to the perspectives of outstanding Boston leaders for insight about how academic disciplines are applied successfully in the worlds of business, law, journalism, art, medicine and science. John Magee, former chairman and CEO of Arthur D. Little, Inc.; and Jerry Schubel, president of the New England Aquarium, also have been named Wheaton Distinguished Fellows for 2001.The Fellows each meet with selected Wheaton courses in addition to participating in the Wheaton Distinguished Fellows Forum, a major public forum addressing issues of national and international importance.

This year's forum will be held on March 1, 2001. Values Added: A Discussion on Ethics in the Professions, will cover issues of ethics in business, politics, science and the arts. The forum will be moderated by Boston Globe Editor Matthew V. Storin. Wheaton philosophy professors Nancy Kendrick and Stephen Mathis also will participate as panelists.

The Wheaton Distinguished Fellows Program was inaugurated in 1996. Past Wheaton Distinguished Fellows have included William Crozier Jr., chairman emeritus of BankBoston; The Honorable Margaret Marshall, chief justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts; Kenneth Olsen, founder of Digital Equipment Corp and Liz Walker, anchor and reporter for WBZ-TV Channel 4.

Support for the Wheaton Distinguished Fellows Program comes from the Burton D. Morgan Foundation, which provided a grant to inaugurate the program, and Wheaton Trustee Karen S. Cook '74, who established an endowment to ensure its future.