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[[underline]] Appointment of National Museum of African Art Commissioners [[/underline]]

The Secretary recalled that Public Law 95-414, the Act of Congress which provided for the incorporation of the Museum of African Art into the Smithsonian, also governs the terms of membership of the Museum's advisory Commission. Specifically, the Act calls upon the Board of Regents to reconstitute the Commission after its first three years (i.e., by January 1, 1983) in order to provide for staggered terms of membership thereafter. Of the fifteen members now to be appointed to the reconstituted Commission, one-third are to have a one-year term, one-third a two-year term, and one-third a three-year term, with all subsequent appointments made for a standard three-year term, thus providing an opportunity to reappoint and/or change the incumbency of five seats on the Commission each year hereafter.

In approaching the task of drawing up a slate of fifteen names to be submitted to the Board of Regents for its consideration, Smithsonian staff has worked closely with the current Chairman of the Commission, former Senator and Regent Frank Moss. The collective deliberations resulted in the following recommendations:

• Proposed for a Three-Year Term:

Frank Moss, present Chairman
Frances Humphrey Howard, present Vice-Chairman
Roy Sieber, present member, African art scholar at Indiana University
David Driskell, present member, scholar at University of Maryland
Robert Nooter, previous member, collector

• Proposed for a Two-Year Term:

Walter Washington, present member, former Mayor and long-time supporter of the Museum
Richard Long, present member, scholar at Atlanta University
John Loughran, new member, former U.S. Ambassador to Senegal
Susan Samuels, new member, arts advocate
Robert Thompson, new member, African art scholar at Yale University