Center for Museum Studies

Museums for the New Millennium:
Speakers

Ellsworth H. Brown
(The Value of Museums in Society-working title)

Ellsworth H. Brown became President of The Carnegie Museums and Libraries of Pittsburgh in March 1993 and is responsible for the city's library system, a Museum of Art, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Carnegie Science Center, and the Andy Warhol Museum.

Before his appointment in Pittsburgh, he was President and Director of the Chicago Historical Society from July 1981. He was also President of the American Association of Museums-a volunteer position-from May 1990 to May 1992.

Brown earned a Ph.D in American and Canadian History from Michigan State University in 1975, an M.A. in history from Western Michigan University in 1967, and a B.A. in history from Hillsdale (Michigan) College in 1965.

Brown's involvement in the American Association of Museums is extensive. He is a Museum Assessment Program visitor and Senior Examiner for the Accreditation Commission. In 1990 he was a member of the team that negotiated the new federal Native American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act. He chaired the Association's Nominating Committee and its Governance Task Force and was a member of the Ethics Task Force.

Current memberships include the Smithsonian Institution Council, and the Board of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian; the Board of the National Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Property; Chair of the Museum Association of Pennsylvania; the Advisory Committees of the H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management and the Department of Music, both at Carnegie Mellon University; the Advisory Board of the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public and International Affairs; the Executive Committee of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development; the board of the Greater Pittsburgh Convention and Visitors Bureau as a member of its Executive Committee and chair of its Marketing Committee. He is a consulting editor of The Journal of Arts Management and Law.


Rex M. Ellis
(Town Meeting Moderator)

Dr. Rex M. Ellis is presently the Director of the Center for Museum Studies at the Smithsonian Institution. Prior to coming to the Smithsonian, Ellis directed the Department of African American Interpretation and Presentations at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation in Williamsburg, Virginia. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Virginia Commonwealth University, a MAsters in Fine Arts from Wayne State University and an Ed.D from the College of William and Mary. He was also in instructor in the Department of Speech Communications and Theater Arts at Hampton University.


Bran Ferren
(The Future of Museums: Asking the Right Questions)

Bran Ferren is a nationally recognized award-winning designer/technologist working in theater, film, special effects, product design, architecture and the sciences. In 1993, he joined Walt Disney Imagineering in the new position of Senior Vice President, Creative Technology, and in 1995 he was named Executive Vice President for Creative Technology and Research & Development. Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI) is the Theme Park master planning, Research and Development, creative development, design, engineering, production and project management subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company. Ferren's responsibilities include a broad range of assignments including overseeing all R&D activities on both coasts. The R&D mission extends beyond Imagineering to include development of technologies that could have strategic value throughout the Walt Disney Company.

Prior to his current position, Bran Ferren was a consultant to Walt Disney Imagineering while heading his own firm, Associates and Ferren, a company he founded in 1978. The company specialized in research and development, creative design, engineering, and execution of projects and systems for the visual and performing arts, as well as for industry and the sciences.


Irene Y. Hirano
(The Japanese American National Museum Response to External Forces)

Irene Hirano is Executive Director and President of the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, a position she has held since 1988. She received a Bachelor's and Master's degree in Public Administration from the University of Southern California. Ms. Hirano brings to the Museum over twenty years of experience in non-profit administration, community and public education, and community affairs with culturally diverse communities nation-wide. She served as a member of the Smithsonian Institution's Commission on the Future, and currently serves as a member of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities, the Cultural Tourism Council of Los Angeles Visitors and Convention Bureau, a Trustee of the Marlborough School, Board of Governors for the University of Southern California, and as a Board member of the National Health Foundation. She has served on numerous other national, state, and local boards.


Robert R. Janes
(Don't Lose Your Nerve: Museums and Organizational Change)

Dr. Robert R. Janes is currently President and Chief Executive Officer of the Glenbow Museum, Art Gallery, Library and Archives in Calgary, Alberta Canada, a position he has held since 1989.

Prior to his Glenbow appointment, Dr. Janes was the founding Director of the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Center (1976-1986) and founding Executive Director of the Science Institute of the Northwest Territories (1986-1989), both in Yellowknife. A Ph.D in Archaeology from the University of Calgary, where he is currently an adjunct professor, Dr. Janes has conducted numerous field research projects throughout the Northwest Territories. He has received many honors and awards, including being named the first Honorary Life Member of the Canadian Museums Association and the Award for Outstanding Achievement in Museum Management, also from the Canadian Museums Association. In 1989, he received the Distinguished Alumni award from the University of Calgary. Dr. Janes and Glenbow staff also received the Award of Merit for Outstanding Achievement from the Alberta Museums Association in 1992.

He is the author of three books and over 60 publications in the fields of archaeology, anthropology, and museology. His most recent book, Museums and the Paradox of Change, is a candid approach to controversial changes in a major cultural organization.


Jennifer Jarratt
(Anticipating Change: The World in 2025 and its Impact on Museums)

Jennifer Jarratt is Vice President of Coates & Jarratt, Inc., Washington, DC, a company that studies the future. She presents and consults to organizations and groups on key factors shaping their future. Ms. Jarratt conducts seminars and courses on thinking like a futurist, scenario building, and practical tools for working with the future. She is the co-author of Managing Your Future as an Association, ASAE, 1994; The Future at Work, Jossey Bass, 1993; Future Work, Jossey Bass, 1990; What Futurists Believe, World Future Society, 1989; Why Issues Emerge, EPRI, 1989; and Issues Management, Lomond, 1986.

Ms. Jarratt has served as analyst on at least 50 futures studies since 1984, including American Business in the New Millennium; Trends Shaping American Business, 1993-2020; Human Resources 2000: Strategies for Work and Management Now and in the Future; Engineering 2000, for the American Society of Mechanical Engineers; and Atmospheric Trace Gases: Policy Implications for American Industry, for EEI.

Ms. Jarratt currently serves as Public representative-elect to The International Association for Financial Planning; and as adjunct faculty to the University of Maryland-University College program in distance learning. She was a Visiting Instructor (1990-1991) in Studies of the Future at the University of Houston-Clear Lake. Ms. Jarratt holds a Bachelor's of Art degree from Goddard College, Vermont and a Master's of Science in Studies of the Future from the University of Houston-Clear Lake.


Harold K. Skramstad
(The Changing Public Expectations of Museums)

Harold K. Skramstad, Jr. is President of the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village in Dearborn, MI, a position he has held since 1981. Prior to his position at the Henry Ford Museum Dr. Skramstad served in several management capacities at the Smithsonian's Museum of American History (1969-1974) and then as Director of the Chicago Historical Society (1974-1980).

A Ph.D. in American Civilization, Dr. Skramstad's areas of special interest include American cultural history, education reform and public humanities programming. He has served on numerous boards and advisory committees including the Advisory Council of Directors for the Museum Trustee Association, serving as the Founding Chairman, 1989-1991, and was recently appointed to the National Council on the Humanities.

Skramstad is an active member of the American Association of Museums, currently serving as a member of the AAM's Governmental Affairs Committee. He has also held numerous other positions in the association including Vice President, 1984-1988.

Dr. Skramstad is the author of numerous articles, essays and reviews in scholarly and professional journals and has contributed his skills to the boards of numerous civic and cultural organizations in Michigan, Illinois and Washington, DC.

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