MIAMI BEACH, FL (January 08, 2009)―The Wolfsonian–Florida International University is proud to announce that it has been awarded a three-year, $500,000-grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to strengthen the academic role of the museum’s collections and programs. This prestigious grant will enable The Wolfsonian to establish a variety of programs, all designed to encourage more intensive use of the museum’s resources by FIU faculty and students.

Among the initiatives that The Wolfsonian will undertake with support from this grant are the following: establishing a teaching gallery on FIU’s main campus in collaboration with the Frost Art Museum, in which objects from The Wolfsonian’s collection can be installed; providing stipends to faculty members so that they can integrate objects from the Wolfsonian’s collections in their teaching, as well as develop new courses based upon the museum’s resources; creating a fellowship program for Ph.D. candidates in the Department of History who will use The Wolfsonian’s resources in their dissertation research; and establishing a semester-long visiting scholar program, which will bring distinguished scholars from around the country to The Wolfsonian in order to work with FIU faculty and students. With support from the grant, The Wolfsonian will work with students to organize a conference, which will give undergraduate and graduate students at FIU a formal opportunity to present research they have conducted at the museum.

The Mellon Foundation grant will also enable The Wolfsonian to enhance its staff capacity in order to undertake these initiatives. The museum will hire a full-time Mellon Coordinator of Academic Programs, who will have responsibility for collaborating with faculty members and students on projects that engage the museum’s resources. It will also add a part-time staff member to its Registration Department, who will assist the Coordinator of Academic Programs in making the collection accessible to members of the academic community.

The Mellon Foundation has played a key role in strengthening the position of art museums on college and university campuses throughout the nation, especially by encouraging and supporting interdisciplinary use of museum collections for advanced research and teaching. Earlier rounds of grants have done much to enhance academic programs at university art museums and their parent institutions at Princeton, Williams, Smith, Harvard, Dartmouth, and the University of Chicago, among others.

“Since joining FIU in 1997, The Wolfsonian has worked hard to encourage use of its resources by faculty and students and to integrate the museum’s collections into teaching and advanced research,” said Cathy Leff, Wolfsonian–FIU director, upon learning of this award. “The Mellon grant will enable us to significantly strengthen the museum’s integration with the academic programs of the university.”

About The Wolfsonian–Florida International University
The Wolfsonian–FIU is a museum and research center that uses objects to illustrate the persuasive power of art and design to explore what it means to be modern, and to tell the story of social, political, and technological changes that have transformed the world. The approximately 120,000 artifacts that comprise The Wolfsonian collection range from fine art, graphic design, and political propaganda to furniture, rare books, and ephemeral materials such as postcards and travel brochures. Since opening to the public just ten years ago, The Wolfsonian has developed and disseminated critically acclaimed exhibitions, publications, and educational programs that highlight the impact of design in shaping the modern world. Its vast patrimony of primary source materials provides unparalleled opportunities for scholarship and appreciation, making it a unique resource for local, national, and international audiences.

The Wolfsonian is located at 1001 Washington Avenue, Miami Beach, Fla. Admission is $7 adults; $5 seniors, students, and children six-12; free for Wolfsonian members, State University System of Florida staff and students with ID, children under six, and Miami Beach residents with ID. The museum is open Monday, Tuesday, Saturday and Sunday from noon-6pm; Thursday and Friday from noon-9pm; and is closed on Wednesday. Contact us at 305.531.1001 or visit us online at www.wolfsonian.org.

The Wolfsonian receives ongoing support from the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, the Florida Arts Council; the National Endowment for the Arts; the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners; the City of Miami Beach, Cultural Affairs Program, Cultural Arts Council; the Arthur F. and Alice E. Adams Foundation; William J. and Tina Rosenberg Foundation; Continental Airlines, the Official Airline of The Wolfsonian-FIU; The Miami Herald; Miami.com; Bacardi U.S.A., Inc.; Robert Mondavi Winery; and Pistils & Petals.

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