November 5, 2019
MEMORANDUM

TO: UNCG Faculty and Staff

RE: Weatherspoon Art Museum Leadership Transition
I write to inform you that after 22 years of dedicated service, Nancy Doll will step down as Director of the Weatherspoon Art Museum on July 31, 2020.
Under Nancy’s outstanding leadership, the Weatherspoon’s collection has continued to be known and highly regarded on a global scale, as indicated by the growing number of loan requests we receive from major museums in this country and abroad. Nancy has overseen impressive enhancements in the museum’s service to the national and international arts communities, as well as to the UNCG campus. More faculty than ever, representing a wider array of disciplines, have incorporated Weatherspoon exhibitions into their curricula and assign classes to visit the galleries in support of class projects. Non-student attendance has also grown steadily, reaching more than 38,000 annual visitors.

Nancy has been successful in raising funds from individuals, corporations, and foundations to advance the mission of the Weatherspoon. Supporters have included the National Endowment for the Arts, North Carolina Arts Council, Tannenbaum-Sternberger Foundation, Cemala Foundation, Joseph M. Bryan Foundation, Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation, Andy Warhol Foundation, Deluxe Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation. Working with the curatorial staff, Nancy has led the charge to diversify our collections, exhibitions, and programs to include many more artists of color and women artists. Because of her steady commitment to these issues, the Weatherspoon’s audience has also greatly diversified. Nancy was also instrumental in marshalling the Weatherspoon through two successful reaccreditation reviews by the American Alliance of Museums.

Nancy was appointed Director of the Weatherspoon in July 1998. She came to Greensboro from Santa Barbara, California, where she was Executive Director of the Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum. Her impressive career includes a number of other distinguished roles, including service as Curator of 20th Century Art at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art; Director of Gallery Eleven and Curator of the University Art Collection at Tufts University; and Director of the Thorne-Sagendorph Art Gallery at Keene State College. Nancy holds a BFA (cum laude) from Mundelin College of Chicago and an M.A. from the University of Iowa.

Please join me in thanking Nancy for her many contributions to the Weatherspoon and UNCG. We will miss Nancy’s strong leadership, wise counsel, and collegial style. A national search for Nancy’s successor will begin soon. Given the strength of the Weatherspoon’s collection, I am confident that we will attract a strong pool of candidates for this desirable position.