Presidential museum, Baker Center director featured at AMSE meeting Thursday

Alan Lowe, director of the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum in Dallas, will be the featured speaker this week in the third of a series of community meetings on the future of the American Museum of Science and Energy.

The community meeting is scheduled from 6-8 p.m. Thursday, October 9, at AMSE.

Lowe was previously founding director of the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

Thursday’s meeting has been organized by the City of Oak Ridge and the American Museum of Science and Energy Foundation. Lowe’s presentation is titled “The Path Forward for AMSE: Lessons Learned from a Life in Museums.”

In his role as director of the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum, Lowe oversees millions of presidential records, as well as exhibits related to the important issues and events of the George W. Bush administration, a press release said. The presidential library and museum is located inside the George W. Bush Presidential Center on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

Lowe has also served as the acting director of Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library; as the director of operations, Office of Presidential Libraries at the National Archives and Records Administration; and as an archivist at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

Registration for Thursday’s meeting and light refreshments will be available beginning at 5:30 p.m. at AMSE, which is located at 300 South Tulane Avenue in Oak Ridge.

AMSE opened in 1949, and it 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.