The Paul R. Jones Annual Distinguished Lecture:  Lonnie Bunch III

Monday, October 14, 2024
4:00 pm – Center for the Arts, Gore Recital Hall

The 2024 Paul R. Jones Annual Distinguished Lecture, hosted by the Department of Art Conservation, is a “A Conversation about Cultural Heritage” with Lonnie G Bunch III, 14th Secretary of the Smithsonian. The event will be introduced by Debra Hess Norris, Interim Dean, College of Arts, Chair and Professor of Photograph Conservation, Art Conservation Department, Unidel Henry Francis du Pont Chair, and Director, Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation. UD alum Shannon Brogdon-Grantham, the Photograph and Paper Conservator, Museum Conservation Institute, Smithsonian Institution; and UD Ph.D. student LaStarsha McGarity, Co-Director and Conservator of the Legacy Museum at Tuskegee University in Tuskegee, Alabama, will moderate the event.

Lonnie G. Bunch III is the 14th Secretary of the Smithsonian. He assumed his position June 16, 2019. As Secretary, he oversees 21 museums, 21 libraries, the National Zoo, numerous research centers and several education units and centers. Two new museums—the National Museum of the American Latino and the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum—are in development. Previously, Bunch was the director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.

About The Paul R. Jones Annual Distinguished Lecture
Funded by the College of Arts and Sciences, The Paul R. Jones Annual Lecture is a university-wide event dedicated to arts practitioners and scholars. The named lecture honors art collector Paul R. Jones (1928-2010) and his gift of African American art to the University of Delaware. Since its arrival at UD two decades ago, the university has supported a wide range of research and curricular programming using African American art as a point of departure. This includes American art and culture in dialogue with Africa and its Diaspora. The Annual Lecture underscores the significance of Black arts to humanistic studies and showcases individuals whose contributions to the field are exemplary, interdisciplinary, and inspiring.