162 



Annals of the Smithsonian Institution 2000 



July 



■ Award The Archives of American Art receives full 

 corporate underwriting ($140,000) from the Ford Motor 

 Company to support the Archives' October 2000 Benefit, "A 

 Salute to the Founders of the Archives of American Art." 



July 



■ Construction contract The Office of Contracting awarded a 

 construction contract to James G. Davis for the building fit- 

 out package for the Victor Building. 



July 



■ Construction contract The Office of Contracting awarded a 

 construction contract for improvements to the Panda House 

 at the National Zoological Park. 



July 



■ New public program SERC's Education Program completed 

 "Woodland Connections," a new public program for middle 

 and high school students on forest ecology. 



July 



■ Program implemented The Smithsonian-wide Purchase 

 Card Program coordinated by the Systems Branch, Office of 

 Contracting, was implemented in July 2000. Approximately 

 150 credit/purchase cards were distributed to Smithsonian 

 staff that attended the required training. Purchase card hold- 

 ers are delegated the authority to obtain commercially 

 available goods and services using the purchase card in lieu 

 of issuing and tracking a purchase order. 



July 



■ Research milestone The Submillimeter Array facility on 

 Mauna Kea, Hawaii, achieves its first successful observations 

 on a source outside our galaxy. 



July-August 



■ Public programs The Smithsonian Associates responded to 

 requests from adults for a concentrated summer experience 

 at the Smithsonian by creating four fabulous week-long 

 "summer escapes." The topics included haute cuisine, inter- 

 national diplomacy, and photography. 



July-December 



■ STC/MS development The National Science Resources Cen- 

 ter continued development of its middle school curriculum. 

 Science and Technology Concepts for Middle Schools-, with 

 work on the second set of four modules for the eighth grade: 

 Earth in Space, Electrical Energy and Circuit Design, Light, and 

 Organisms — From Macro to Micro, Module development staff 

 for each module recruited a 10- to 15-member advisory 

 committee composed of teachers, scientists, and science edu- 

 cators to assist in developing appropriate learning activities 

 and materials. Development staff and advisors completed 

 module overview plans and conducted trial teaching during 

 the summer of 2000. Curriculum developers then prepared 

 field-test versions of each module — both student guides and 

 source books and teacher guides — for use in the classroom in 

 spring 2001. 



July 1 



■ Concert The sixth annual Ralph Rinzler Memorial Con- 

 cert featured Peggy Seeger who was joined by her children, 

 her brother Mike Seeger, her niece Sonja Cohen, and several 

 fiiends and collaborators. The concert was held as part of the 

 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, produced by the Center for 

 Folklife and Cultural Heritage. 



July 1 



■ Exhibition "The Disability Rights Movement" at the Na- 

 tional Museum of American History examines the history of 

 activism by people with disabilities, their friends, and fami- 

 lies to secure the civil rights guaranteed to all Americans. 



July 



■ Teacher workshops A week-long workshop at the National 

 Museum of African Art gave local art teachers the opportu- 

 nity to work with African and African American artists 

 represented in the museum's exhibition "Transatlantic 

 Dialogue." 



July 



■ Television production As part of the national visibility 

 campaign for the Treasures to Go tour, the Smithsonian 

 American Art Museum developed a 30-minute television 

 special about the museum's collections and the tour. The 

 program, produced by Trans World International a sub- 

 sidiary of IMG in New York, will be syndicated on network 

 affiliates in cities hosting Treasures to Go exhibitions. 



July 1 



■ New director Marc Pachter became the fourth Director of 

 the National Portrait Gallery in July 2000. A cultural histo- 

 rian, biographer, and author, he is known as the Smithsonian's 

 "Master Interviewer" for his creation at the Portrait Gallery of 

 the Living Self-Portrait interview series with distinguished 

 Americans. Pachter 's prime goal is to communicate the lives, 

 meaning, and inspiration of remarkable Americans, past and 

 present. The Portrair Gallery, in this way, will connect all 

 Americans, across generations, regions, and communities, 

 with their shared heritage of national achievement. 



July 1 



■ Special event "Tibetan-American Day Celebration" with 

 Tibetan Americans from across the United States. Nearly 75 



