Museum director celebrated for her efforts
Dr. V. Ann Tippitt, director of The Schiele Museum of Natural History, was recently given two prestigious honors. The longtime leader was awarded The Order of the Long Leaf Pine on the same night that The Schiele’s lobby was officially named The Dr. V. Ann Tippitt Lobby.
At The Schiele’s Gilded Age of Giants Gala in late September, North Carolina State Representative John Torbett and Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives Tim Moore presented her with The Order of the Long Leaf Pine Award. Since 1963, North Carolina’s governors have reserved this honor for “persons who have made significant contributions to the state and their communities.” Senator Brad Overcash read the award aloud during the ceremony and led the crowd in a rousing version of the official North Carolina toast: "Here's to the land of the long-leaf pine.”
On the same evening, Gastonia City Councilman and Mayor Pro-Tem Dr. David Kirlin announced that The Schiele Museum’s newly updated lobby would be named in honor of Tippitt. She was presented with a portrait that will hang in the lobby that now bears her name.
“This was a surprise,” she said during the ceremony. “It’s been delightful and heartwarming to receive this honor and for all of you to be here with me. Thank you.”
Tippitt found her place at The Schiele when she joined the staff in 1988. Originally from Arkansas, she received her BA in Sociology and Anthropology from the University of Arkansas-Little Rock and an MA in Anthropology from the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville. After post-graduate work at the University of Missouri, she became a research archaeologist at the Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of South Carolina, leading excavations associated with the Richard B. Russell Reservoir construction. She resumed her graduate work at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill where she was awarded a Ph.D. in 1997.
Over the last 35 years, she has served as the curator of collections, led The Schiele’s programs, exhibits, and planetarium, and has served as the executive director since 2005. She is an active member in many museum-affiliated organizations such as the American Alliance of Museums Directors Association, Southeastern Museums Council, and the North Carolina Museums Council to name a few. She has also been an active Rotarian in the Gastonia Rotary Club since 2005 and received the Rotary International Paul Harris Fellowship Award in 2013.
Under her leadership, the museum raised over $3.5 million to build the first LEED Gold Certified building in Gaston County, the Environmental Studies Center. The Schiele also was able to replace the aging and obsolete planetarium equipment in the James H. Lynn Planetarium, raising more than $750,000 in six months to create a new 360-degree digital experience.
She remains a steadfast advocate for lifelong and creating an experience at The Schiele that inspires a quest for knowledge in every visitor. Exciting projects continue under her leadership as a new campaign is underway to introduce a dinosaur exhibit hall in the next few years.
This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: Museum director celebrated for her efforts
