continuing interesc of the Axelrods', will hold the chait 

 for the initial three-year term. 



December 



■ New Wing Construction began on the new Dis- 

 covery Center of the National Museum of Natural His- 

 tory. Designed to complement the museum's original 

 Beaux Arts architecture and tucked into its West Court, 

 the center will add 80,000 square feet of public space to 

 the Natural History Building and will house a 600-seat 

 cafe and Washington's only 3D IMAX theater. 



December 



■ NZP Medal Presentation Director Michael Robinson 

 presented the NZP Medal for Outstanding Service to 

 Biological Sciences and Conservation to Knut Schmidt- 

 Nielsen. The award was made in recognition of 

 Schmidt-Nielsen's distinguished career in biology and 

 his untiring quest for answers to complex questions of 

 animal physiology. 



December 



■ Special Event Smithsonian Institution Archives and 

 its Joseph Henry Papers Project (JHPP) commemorate 

 the 200th anniversary of the birth of the Smithsonian's 

 first Secretary, Joseph Henry, with a series of articles, 

 interviews, presentations and media events. The cele- 

 bration includes the launching of the project's home 

 page on SIA's Web site on October 10, 1997. 



December 



■ Award and Giving Fund The Smithsonian Libraries 

 received $47,600 from the Atherton Seidell Endow- 

 ment Fund for a digital camera and other computer 

 equipment necessary to produce high-resolution digital 

 scans. The Libraries will establish a digital imaging cen- 

 ter where important rare books will be scanned and 

 made available to large audience on the Internet. The 

 same month, the Smithsonian Libraries' Cooper-Hewitt, 

 National Design Museum Branch benefitted more than 

 $20,000 from the Parsons School of Design Graduate 

 Program Annual Giving Fund, which allocates 25 per- 

 cent of the total received to the branch library. 



December 



■ Annual Audit The Smithsonian received an un- 

 qualified opinion on its audited statements. 



December 



■ Latino Outreach The Office of Public Affairs ran the 

 first of four print advertising campaigns for the year in 

 a number of Washington, D.C., Spanish-language 

 newspapers. The campaigns were geared toward the 

 December holidays, spring events, summer events 

 around the time of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, 

 and Hispanic Heritage Month. The Institution-wide 

 advertisements highlight exhibits and activities of 

 special interest to the communiry. 



December 



■ Construction Smithsonian Marine Station — The 

 Office of Contracting negotiated and awarded a contract 

 to Associated Construction for the building of the 

 laboratory/office facility at Fort Pierce, Florida. This is 

 the beginning building of a research campus for Marine 

 Biology. 



December 



■ Food Sen-ice Agreements The Office of Contracting 

 negotiated and awarded food service agreements for the 

 Smithsonian Mall to Sodexho Marriott and Compass 

 Group USA, Inc. These agreements produce about one 

 quarter of the trust fund revenues for the Smithsonian 

 Business Activities. 



December 



■ Publication The Office of Equal Employment and 

 Minority Affairs published and distributed the fifteenth 

 Smithsonian Institution Equal Opportunity Report in 

 response to a 1989 request from the House and Senate 

 Committees on Appropriations. This report described 

 the composition of the work force in terms of gender, 

 racial/ ethnic identity, grade, and occupational categories. 

 It also contains a summary of the Institution's efforts to 

 ensure that programs reflect the nation's diversity and 

 pluralism. It covered the period September 1997 to 

 September 1998. 



December and March 



■ Consignment Agreements The Office of Contracting 

 negotiated and awarded Smithsonian-wide consignment 

 agreements to Christie's and Sotheby's auction houses 

 for aucrion sales of deaccessioned works of art. These 



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