The Main Street Post

COLLEGEVILLE PA – Charles Stainback, currently second-in-command of Florida’s largest art museum, has been appointed as the new director of the Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art at Ursinus College, Main Street, the college announced Saturday (Oct. 20, 2012).

Charles Stainback

Stainback, who now serves as deputy director of the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, will be on the Ursinus campus part-time through March 31 (2013), and will start full-time April 1, the announcement said.

“We are fortunate to have someone of Mr. Stainback’s extensive experience,” said college President Bobby Fong.

Before his current appointment at Norton, he worked as its William and Sarah Ross Soter Curator of Photography for the Norton. His areas of expertise are photography and contemporary art.

Stainback was founding director of Skidmore College’s Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery. At the Tang he helped secure a major grant from the Henry Luce Foundation. He also was also a Professor of Liberal Studies at Skidmore.

He previously served as distinguished visiting graduate professor in the Department of Photography and Film at Virginia Commonwealth University, as well as director of exhibitions for the International Center of Photography in New York and director of the International Center of Photography Midtown in New York. He holds a BFA from Kansas City Art Institute and an MFA from the Visual Studies Workshop of the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Photo from Google Images

COLLEGEVILLE PA – Ursinus College in Collegeville PA has received an $800,000 grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to establish a Center for Science and the Common Good that intends to create more engaging science education, bring more research experiences to students, and increase the diversity of students who study science.

Engaging students in scientific research is a center goal

The Ursinus proposal was one of 47 selected from more than 180 submitted by small U.S. colleges and universities. The grant award was announced Thursday (May 24, 2012).

The center will “not only reflects Ursinus College’s rich legacy in the sciences, but connects it to our values of civic engagement and working across the disciplines,” said President Bobby Fong. “We hope it will enhance the breadth of the liberal arts education we offer, while also providing experiences that will lead to post-college success.”

The new Ursinus center expects to provide opportunities for science students who want to pursue careers in civic leadership, will encourage under-represented minority students who are interested in studying science, and will serve as a resource for all students who want to learn about the impact of science on society, according to Biology Professor Rebecca Kohn.

Center fellows will prepare for careers in science and civic leadership through courses and internships, with opportunities to explore their interests off campus in the U.S. or abroad.

The institute grant will pay for a seminar series featuring leaders in relevant fields, the appointment of a science writer-in-residence, the development of specially-designed courses, and a program of discussions organized and run by students. The center anticipates a Fall 2012 opening.

Ursinus is collaborating on some center topics with other institute winners, including Bard College in Annandale-on-the Hudson NY, Hunter College in New York City, and San Francisco State University.