The director of the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum in Dallas will be featured in a community meeting in October on the future of the American Museum of Science and Energy in Oak Ridge.
During that Thursday, October 9 meeting, Alan Lowe will discuss the process of developing and managing facilities that function as both research libraries and historical museum attractions, a press release said.
The George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum is located inside the George W. Bush Presidential Center on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas. In his role as director, Lowe oversees millions of presidential records as well as exhibits related to the important issues and events of the Bush Administration, a press release said.
Lowe was previously the founding director of the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy on the campus of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. He has also served as the acting director of Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library; as the director of operations in the Office of Presidential Libraries at the National Archives and Records Administration; and as an archivist at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
Lowe is the featured speaker in the third of four community meetings on the future of AMSE operations. The meetings have been organized by the City of Oak Ridge and the American Museum of Science and Energy Foundation.
(Note: There will not be an AMSE meeting on September 25 as previously announced due to a candidate forum scheduled that evening sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge.)
The fourth and final meeting will be on Thursday, October 23. During that meeting, Lee Waddell Curtis, director of program development and legislative liaison for the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development, will discuss the growth and significance of heritage tourism in Tennessee.
Curtis has an extensive background in cultural and heritage tourism, and as program development director, her responsibilities include overseeing and developing the Tennessee Civil War Trails program and serving as the department’s heritage tourism contact, the press release said. In addition, she represents the department on several national and statewide organizations, and served as a board member of the state’s Sesquicentennial Commission. She also assists in the development of related sustainable tourism programs and was instrumental in planning and implementation of the Great Smoky Mountains Sustainable Tourism Summit in 2008.
Curtis works with counties and communities statewide to assist them with the department’s programs and initiatives. She has also directed the department’s corporate and travel industry sales programs to garner increased travel and revenues for Tennessee, where she was responsible for the promotion and sales of Tennessee to national and international group tour companies, tour bus operators, and other business and travel organizations that influence travel-buying decisions.
The meetings will be held from 6-8 p.m. at AMSE, which is located at 300 South Tulane Avenue in Oak Ridge. Registration and light refreshments will be available beginning at 5:30 p.m.
The AMSE was opened in 1949 and is owned by the U.S. Department of Energy. The museum showcases the history of the Manhattan Project and the current scientific, energy, and national security missions carried out by DOE facilities in Oak Ridge.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory currently manages the museum for DOE and contributes, along with other major DOE contractors in Oak Ridge, to the museum’s operating costs.
The AMSE Foundation was chartered in September 1996 to support the cultural, educational and scientific programs of the museum. The Foundation is a 501(c)(3) corporation; the tax-exempt status provides an added benefit to help support a variety of AMSE events and programs. Foundation membership is open to any individual who applies for the appropriate AMSE membership category.
For more information, visit www.amse.org or www.oakridgetn.gov.
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