RICHARD BENEFIELD APPOINTED
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR FOR FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION

Cambridge, MA-May 1999-Richard Benefield has been appointed Assistant Director for Finance and Administration at the Harvard University Art Museums. Benefield will oversee all aspects of the Art Museums relating to finance, human resources, information technology, public education, visitors services, building operations, and security. His appointment began on April 1, 1999.

"I'm very pleased that Richard has joined the Art Museums. He brings extensive experience in art museum management and a close familiarity with the workings of a university," said James Cuno, Elizabeth and John Moors Cabot Director of the Harvard University Art Museums. "He distinguished himself at both Brown University and the Museum of the Rhode Island School of Design. We will benefit enormously from the intelligence and experience he brings us."

Benefield comes to Harvard from the Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), where he held the post of Assistant Director. Previous to that he was Administrator of the David Winton Bell Gallery, Brown University, from 1988 through 1996. Benefield has had comprehensive experience supervising the daily operations of a university museum. While at the RISD Museum, he oversaw a $5 million operating budget, was responsible for departments ranging from security to the museum shop, and helped implement that institution's most ambitious exhibition ever, Gifts of the Nile: Ancient Egyptian Faience.

The Harvard University Art Museums consists of the Fogg Art Museum (founded in 1891, opened in 1895), the Busch-Reisinger Museum (founded in 1902, now housed in Werner Otto Hall), the Arthur M. Sackler Museum (opened in 1985), and the Straus Center for Conservation, located in the Fogg. Through their collections, the Art Museums serve Harvard University as a catalyst for art historical instruction and scholarship, as a training ground for future academic and museum professionals, and as a general resource for the greater-Boston area and all the world.

The collections of the Art Museums consist of more than 150,000 objects in all media, with works ranging from antiquity to the present and from Europe, North America, North Africa, the Middle East, India, Southeast Asia, and East Asia. Developed with an emphasis on their value for teaching and research, the collections comprise a unique resource in terms of breadth and quality, and are one of the finest university art collections in the world.

The Art Museums are open Monday through Saturday, 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m., and Sunday 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m. Closed national holidays. Admission is $5.00; $4.00 for senior citizens; $3.00 for students; free under 18 and to all individuals on Saturday mornings and all day Wednesdays. For general information, please call (617) 495-9400. All groups over 7 people must schedule in advance with the group tour office. Please call (617) 496-8576. Web site: www.artmuseums.harvard.edu. The Harvard University Art Museums is supported in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council.