Brandeis looks for new Rose staff

Over the past week, Brandeis University has begun advertising two jobs at its Rose Art Museum – director of education and collections manager/registrar. On the face of it, this seems to be adding one position to the decimated Rose staff. (A Brandeis spokesman did not respond today to requests for clarification.)

After Brandeis announced plans to shutter the Rose and pawn its collection in January, it pushed out two Rose staffers – including Director Michael Rush – and another left on her own over the summer. Meanwhile other positions – including curator – had been left open for months. From a staff of six or seven, the museum was left with a staff of two: Director of Museum Operations Roy Dawes and Collections Manager Valerie Wright. The Rose website still lists both as employed by the museum (but Update Wright is leaving to be registrar at the art museum that West Virginia University plans to open in 2012.)

Brandeis leaders have given conflicting statements on the future of the Rose – pronouncing that the Rose has been saved while never specifically renouncing plans to sell the collection – so where it’s headed remains uncertain. In September, the Future of the Rose Committee, an 11-member advisory board sanctioned by Brandeis leaders, recommended that the school keep the Rose open as a public museum, better integrate it into the school’s educational mission, and return to pre-Rose-crisis staffing levels. The apparent restoration of the Rose’s director of education seems to be a step forward in acting on this advice.