Press Releases
Akron Art Museum Bios
For Release: July 2007
MITCHELL KAHAN, DIRECTOR AND CEO, AKRON ART MUSEUM
Mitchell Kahan has served as Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Akron Art Museum since 1986. During his twenty one-year tenure, Kahan has initiated dramatic growth in the museum's collections, operations and service to the city and visitors. Under his leadership, the Akron Art Museum has embarked on an expansion project to create its first "purpose-built" museum building in the institution's 85-year history-a vital necessity to meet the increasing public response to its programming and fulfill its mission of presenting modern and contemporary art.
With Kahan's guidance, the museum has increased its endowment significantly and has become one of the nation's most notable small museums. He has also developed the museum's international collections, especially its holdings of contemporary painting, sculpture and photography. Over the past twenty one years Kahan has also helped expand the museum's audience, doubling visitorship from the 1980s to the 1990s.
Active in the Akron community, Kahan is a founding officer of the Akron Area Arts Alliance, where he also served as president. He has been instrumental in developing two of the Alliance's key projects, the Arts Alive Awards and the creation of Summit Artspace, a community art center. He served as president of the Akron Roundtable, the city's leading speaker series, and is a founding trustee of the Downtown Akron Partnership. Kahan was also president of the Intermuseum Conservation Association, a conservation laboratory in Cleveland serving museums throughout the Great Lakes region and was a trustee and chair of the Program Committee for the Association of Art Museum Directors. Kahan received the Ohio Museum Association's 2004 Distinguished Museum Professional Award.
Prior to his arrival at the Akron Art Museum, Kahan served as Curator of American and Contemporary Art at the North Carolina Museum of Art, from 1982 to 1986, and Curator of Painting and Sculpture at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts in Alabama, from 1978 to 1982. Kahan holds a PhD in Art History from City University of New York Graduate School, and undergraduate and master's degrees from the University of Virginia and Columbia University, respectively. He writes and lectures on twentieth-century American art, including the history of corporate collecting, folk art and contemporary art and has received fellowships from the Smithsonian Institution and the National Endowment for the Arts.
DONALD L. PLUSQUELLIC, MAYOR, CITY OF AKRON
In January 2007, Don Plusquellic began his 21st year as Mayor of the City of Akron. Now in his fifth 4-year term, he has become the City's longest-serving mayor. During his tenure, Plusquellic has been recognized nationally for his leadership in promoting economic development, assisting public education and transforming Akron into a prosperous, vibrant community.
He was elected president of the U. S. Conference of Mayors (2004-2005) by colleagues from 500 American cities. He was appointed by Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge to the task force that created the mechanism to ensure the funding for high-threat targets in American cities. Mayor Plusquellic currently serves as vice president of the international organization Mayors for Peace. In 2006, he was named an honorary member of the Raoul Wallenberg Foundation for his work on Holocaust education.
The Wall Street Journal recognized Mayor Plusquellic on the importance of Mayoral leadership in America. American City & County magazine named him "Municipal Leader of the Year" (2003). He received the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the "City Livability Award."
From luring the National Inventors Hall of Fame from Washington, D.C. to its new child-friendly headquarters in Akron to the construction of a minor league baseball stadium and opening of a convention center, Mayor Plusquellic has transformed downtown Akron, which offers an eclectic blend of music and nightlife that have invigorated the City.
WOLF D. PRIX, PRINCIPAL, COOP HIMMELB(L)AU
Wolf D. Prix was born in Vienna in 1942. He studied at the University of Technology in Vienna, the Architectural Association of London and at Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) in Los Angeles. Since 1993, Wolf D. Prix has been Professor for Architecture at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, Austria. Since 2003 he has served as "Head of Institute for Architecture" and as Vice-Rector.
As Visiting Professor he has taught at the Architectural Association in London in 1984, and at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1990. From 1985 - 1995 Wolf D. Prix taught as Adjunct Professor at the SCI-Arc in Los Angeles, California. Since 1998 he has been a faculty member at Columbia University in New York City. In 1999 Wolf D. Prix was awarded the Harvey Perloff Professorship at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). In 2001 he was an Adjunct Professor at UCLA. Since 2001 he has been a Doctor Honoris Causa de la Universidad de Palermo, Buenos Aires, Argentina. In 2004 Wolf D. Prix received the Annie Spink Award for Excellence in Architectural Education for his dedication to the process of teaching and learning.
From 1995 to 1997 Wolf D. Prix held a position as an Architectural Counsellor to the Austrian Federal Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts. He is a member of the Austrian Art Senate as well as of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts. Furthermore, Wolf D. Prix is a member of the Architectural Association of Austria, Germany and Santa Clara, Cuba. In 2006, Wolf D. Prix became a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and the American Institute of Architects (AIA). He has been the commissioner for the Austrian contribution for the 10th International Architecture Biennale in Venice.
