Report of the Board 

 of Regents 



The Smithsonian's Board of Regents held plenary meetings on 

 January 30, May 8, and September 18, 1995, and sponsored 

 committee meetings throughout the year. The Executive 

 Committee, the Nominating Committee, the Audit and 

 Review Committee, the Investment Policy Committee, and 

 the Personnel Committee advanced the work of the board 

 with increasing effectiveness. 



Membership on the board sustained a fair degree of 

 turnover. In the November 1994 elections. House Speaker 

 Tom Foley and Senator Jim Sasser were not returned to office 

 and left the Board of Regents at the end of the 103rd 

 Congress. Senator John Warner resigned to take on additional 

 Senate responsibilities. Representative Norman Y. Mineta 

 resigned from the Congress and thereby left the board. The 

 board designated all four of these former regents as regents 

 emeritus. New regents from the Congress were Representative 

 Bob Livingston, Representative Sam Johnson, Senator Alan 

 K. Simpson, and Senator Thad Cochran. 



There was also turnover among the citizen members, as I. 

 Michael Heyman resigned to become secretary of the 

 Smithsonian, and the second terms of Jeannine S. Clark and 

 Samuel C. Johnson expired. To fill these vacancies, the regents 

 nominated Louis V. Gerstner Jr. of Connecticut, Howard H. 

 Baker Jr. of the District of Columbia, and Anne d'Harnon- 

 court of Pennsylvania. The regents also nominated Regent 

 Homer A. Neal for a successive statutory term of six 

 years. 



During the fiscal year, the regents met with their 

 Commission on the Future of the Smithsonian, received the 

 commission's report, and, with the assistance of the new ad 

 hoc Committee on Policy and Programs, formulated responses 

 to the recommendations. Noting that a number of the 

 recommendations required the secretary's response over time, 

 they asked for a progress report at least once a year. Working 

 with the ad hoc committee and the secretary, the regents 



adopted guidelines to help Smithsonian advisory boards fulfill 

 their support functions. 



Secretary Heyman engaged the regents in discussions of 

 particularly difficult issues. After extensive deliberations, the 

 regents publicly expressed their support for the secretary's 

 decision to cancel the long-planned and highly controversial 

 exhibition on the Enola Gay and the end of World War II at 

 the National Air and Space Museum and replace it with a 

 display of the aircraft and related artifacts. After reviewing 

 the findings of a National Academy of Public Administration 

 study on the organization and management of the museum, 

 the boatd adopted guiding principles for recruiting a new 

 director and developing a mission statement. 



The Board of Regents reviewed the secretary's plans for 

 reorganization of Smithsonian senior management and 

 adopted changes in its bylaws to conform to the new 

 organization. The regents also approved revised bylaws for the 

 Smithsonian National Board and appointed its officers and 

 membership. By regents' resolution, the chairman of the 

 Smithsonian National Board will remain a nonvoting 

 participant in regents' meetings. The regents also adopted 

 revisions to the bylaws of the Commission of the National 

 Portrait Gallery. 



Several reports to the Board of Regents during the year 

 were especially significant with respect to the future of the 

 Smithsonian. The board received reports on Latino initiatives, 

 plans for the 1996 150th anniversary year and the traveling 

 exhibition "America's Smithsonian," the development of the 

 150th Anniversary Corporate Partner Program, and the debut 

 of the Smithsonian's home page on the World Wide Web. 

 The Regents also discussed issues of revenue enhancement, 

 development initiatives, and increasing fiscal stringencies. In 

 the latter context, the regents authorized the deaccession or 

 the Barney Studio House sub]ect to review by the Executive 

 Committee. 



In other actions, the Board of Regents approved the 

 development of an affinity credit card, endorsed the phased 

 planning of the extension ot the National Air and Space 

 Museum and reaffirmed its placement at Washington Dulles 

 International Airport, and voted to continue soliciting 

 voluntary donations in selected Smithsonian museums. The 

 board also noted that the Senate has requested a feasibility 

 study on collecting admission fees in the museums. 



The regents awarded the Joseph Henry Medal to retiring 

 General Counsel Peter G. Powers and to Representative 

 Sidney R. Yates, a regent emeritus, in grateful recognition of 

 their decades of extraordinary service to the Smithsonian. 



During the year, the regents appointed the following 

 individuals to boards and commissions: Manley Alan Begay 

 Jr., George L. Cornell, Billy L. Cypress, Dwight Gourneau, 

 Gerald R. McMaster, Joann Sebastian Morris, Nancy Clark 

 Reynolds, Phyllis Young, James A. Block, Ellsworth H. 

 Brown, Catherine Sweeney Fowler, Douglas M. George, Jorge 

 Flores Ochoa, Luci Tapahonso, and Bernard Julian Whitebear 

 to the Board of Trustees ot the National Museum of the 



