Special Events

This year, the Institute of Museum and Library Service Presented Cincinnati Museum Center with the Nation’s Highest Award for Community Service at a ceremony in Washington, D.C.

Watch a video of the ceremony here!

Elizabeth Pierce, VP of Communications, talks to CET!

Museum Center representatives made a trip to the nation’s capitol for a historic moment.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) presented the National Medal for Museum and Library Service in Washington, D.C. Cincinnati Museum Center was one of 10 recipients of the award who were named in October 2009. The honor is the nation’s highest honor for museums and libraries that make “extraordinary civic, educational, economic, environmental and social contributions.”

Attending the events to accept the award on Cincinnati Museum Center’s behalf were institution President/CEO Douglass McDonald and community member Faith Anne Brown.

McDonald, who has served the broader museum community for 25 years and Cincinnati Museum Center since 1999, oversees an annual operating budget of more than $18 million. He is a member of several professional associations and has served on the boards of the International Council of Museums, the American Association of Museums Ethics Committee on Cultural Property and the Association of Midwest Museums.

McDonald currently serves as a board and executive committee member for Wilmington College, the Greater Cincinnati Convention and Visitors Bureau and CET Public Television Community Service Council.

A highly accomplished young woman, Brown – a graduate of Cincinnati Museum Center’s youth leadership program – grew up in Cincinnati’s Roselawn neighborhood and is an alumna of Saint Ursula Academy. She recently completed her undergraduate degree with honors in chemistry at Howard University.

Now a program specialist at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Research and Development in Washington, D.C., Brown remains active in community service, serving as a tutor, mentor and volunteer with groups such as Passport Camps, Inc. and Calvary Women’s Services. She hopes to begin a Master in Public Health program, with a concentration on Maternal and Child Health in the fall.

“I have long loved Cincinnati’s Union Terminal, and remember when the Cincinnati Museum Center was created to occupy the magnificent Art Deco icon of Cincinnati,” said U.S. Senator George Voinovich. “What a fabulous journey that Cincinnati Museum Center has had from those early days after the merger of the Cincinnati Historical Society and Natural History Museum, to now serving more than 1.3 million visitors each year! I just visited the Museum Center in April and was particularly impressed. The Center is a phenomenal asset to the community, helping the region’s students better appreciate and understand science and its role in the world around them. This IMLS award is icing on the cake for an institution that so many Cincinnatians know and love.”

Fellow U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown concurs with Voinovich’s statement.

“I’m pleased to join in celebrating Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal as the 2009 recipient of the National Medal for Museum and Library Service Award. The museum’s resources serve as a window into our history as city, state, and nation,” said Brown. “I’m proud to recognize Cincinnati Museum Center’s outstanding contribution to the cultural education and inspiration of the Greater Cincinnati Community.”