The Smithsonian Institution announced two major changes to its leadership Tuesday, and will seek feedback on another at a hearing next Monday.
Kevin Gover was named director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, while Hirshhorn Museum director Olga Viso will leave her spot for another position.
Recommended Stories
The institution also will hold a public hearing on Monday from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. to get input for the next secretary of the Smithsonian at large, according to a news release from the museum.
The Smithsonian has been plagued by controversy since it discovered that Secretary Lawrence Small had made $90,000 in unauthorized expenses and charged the institution more than $1 million to use his mansion for official functions. Small resigned in March. Other individuals in leadership positions such as Sheila Burke, chief operating officer and deputy secretary of the Smithsonian, and Gary Beer, chief executive officer of Smithsonian Business Ventures, later left their positions.
Gover is a professor of law at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University in Tempe and head of the school’s American Indian Policy Institute. He is also a member of the Pawnee tribe and served as assistant secretary for Indian Affairs from 1997 to 2000. He replaces Rick West, the museum’s founding director, who announced his departure in 2006.
Viso has been with the Hirshhorn for 12 years and will move on to become director of the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. The Smithsonian will conduct a nationwide search for a new director, according to a statement from the museum.
Viso and Gover were not immediately available for comment Tuesday.
