SEMO HIRES MUSEUM DIRECTOR

Dr. Stanley Grand's office is tucked into a corner behind the exhibits in the Southeast Missouri University Museum.

But with his wide-ranging love of art and culture, Grand, 55, isn't easy to pigeonhole. "I am just curious as I can be about anything," he said.

Southeast Missouri State hired him earlier this summer to manage the museum and serve as associate professor of art at a salary of $55,000. He has been working at the university since Aug. 21.

He previously directed the Sordoni Art Gallery at Wilkes University, a small, private school in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., with an enrollment of 1,600 undergraduate students.

His wife, Nancy, still works at Wilkes University. "She is running the gallery," he said. But Grand said his wife soon will join him. Grand has a 10-year-old son, Lucian.

Grand has high hopes for the University Museum, particularly the plans to develop a stand-alone art and regional history museum at the university's planned River Campus on the grounds of a former Catholic seminary.

Grand readily admits he isn't an artist, although he says he has many friends who are.

"I have never painted. I have never sculpted," said Grand. "I consider myself a cultural historian or art historian."

But he didn't start out that way. Grand's father worked as a foreign service officer for the U.S. State Department. The family moved around, depending on where his father was stationed.

As a result, Grand grew up in Lima, Peru; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and Washington, D.C.

He attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison, graduating in 1967 with a degree in history and philosophy.

After graduation, he went to work for a wholesale liquor and beer distributor in Madison. He handled a number of business matters for the company over the years, including labor negotiations and supervising construction of buildings for the growing firm.

But Grand, at the age of 38, decided to change careers. He went back to school and graduated with a master's degree and a doctorate in art history.

"I just knew I wanted to do that," he said of museum work.

Grand loves works of art. "I have a total commitment to the object, the work of art itself," he said.

Over the years he has arranged collections and written catalogs of art work.

With his background in classical and Renaissance art, Grand said he didn't want to be just a curator of contemporary art.

Grand said he was attracted to the Southeast job because of the planned development of the River Campus and its proposed museum.

But a new museum probably is still at least three years away. For now, Grand must direct a museum that is housed in Memorial Hall, the former student union.

There's little parking near the building, making it more difficult to attract visitors.

The museum is open only Mondays through Fridays on a regular basis. Grand said he hopes to expand the museum hours, opening the doors to the public on weekends from noon to 4 p.m.

Grand wants to bring in traveling art exhibitions and create a museum "friends" organization to raise funds and spark greater public interest in the museum.

The museum once had a "friends" organization of supporters, but the group ceased operating, he said.

The University Museum also needs to look to grants and corporate support, Grand said.

He is considering rearranging exhibit spaces in the ballroom-turned-museum. New signs are being installed to provide more information on the artwork and objects displayed in the museum.

Grand, dressed in coat and tie, said the job of museum director involves everything from scholarship to salesmanship.

"In some ways," he said, "a museum director is kind of a mix between a scholar and a kind of Barnum and Bailey promoter."

"There is this showmanship," he said, smiling broadly.