Ann Wright-Parsons Anthropology Museum Director Dept. of Anthropology anwparsons@niu.edu

Ms. Wright-Parsons was first bit by the Asian bug in 1962 when, after graduation from college, she joined International Voluntary Service, Inc and became an English teacher in Hue, Vietnam. After marrying a fellow volunteer and working a few years in Washington, D.C. she and her husband returned to Southeast Asia (The Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and Bangladesh) where they raised their children for the next twenty-two years. A wife of a United Nations civil servant, Ms. Wright-Parsons taught English and worked as a volunteer in museums in Jakarta and Bangkok. This led to the pursuit of an MA in anthropology at NIU in 1993, followed by a career in museums – eight years in the Department of Anthropology at the American Museum of Natural History, New York City and from 2002 Director of NIU’s Anthropology Museum.

Grants received:

2002 – DeKalb County Community Foundation – restoration of children’s area in museum

2002 – Center for Southeast Asian Studies, U.S. Department of Education, Title VI grant – exhibit – Puppetry in Southeast Asia

2003 – Opportunity Grant, NIU Foundation - personnel

2004 – DeKalb County Community Foundation – Ice Age exhibit

2004 – CIUE, NIU Foundation – personnel

2005 – Venture Grant, NIU Foundation – exhibit - Masks of Southeast Asia

2005 – Illinois Humanities Council – exhibit – Islam in Southeast Asia

2005 – Luce Foundation – joint grant with Judy Ledgerwood, NIU Anthropology Department and the Cambodian American Museum and Holocaust Memorial for exhibits and oral history.

Projects:

Service Elderhostel – summer 2003, 2004, 2006. Week long program in which volunteers through Elderhostel International assisted with the preservation of the textiles, primarily Southeast Asian, in the museum’s collection.

Teaching:

Museum Methods (ANTH 462) concerning collections care, regulations regarding collections, and procedures. Final project is to research an object from the museum’s extensive collection.

Supervising and advising:

Internships in Museum Studies, independent studies projects related to museology, undergraduate honors projects

Committees:

NIU

Center for Southeast Asian Studies Council

Museum Studies Graduate Certificate Committee

Blackwell Museum and One-Room School House Advisory Board

DeKalb County

Passport to Museums of DeKalb County Committee

Memberships:

Association of Asian Studies

American Association of Museums

Association of College and University Museums and Galleries

Association of Midwest Museums

Illinois Association of Museums

Honorary Membership:

Phi Beta Delta Honor Society for International Scholars (Zeta Gamma Chapter, NIU)