Interim Accreditation is Big Step for Museum of Northern Arizona

On March 26, the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff received “Interim Accreditation” from the American Association of Museums. An on-site visit to MNA is expected in late 2007 which is the next step in restoring full accreditation to the Museum.

This is a significant step because the accreditation was revoked in December 2003, in large part because, as described on the Museum’s website (http://www.musnaz.org/trustees/accreditproc.html), “the board of the museum sold 21 pieces from its collections to finance an operating deficit. This action violated the museum’s own collection policies. This move by the board and several other controversial actions, including the closing of the museum’s geology department, led to a revolt of museum’s membership which sought the resignation of the museum board and director. On July 26, 2003, at a special meeting of the museum’s membership, the entire board resigned and was replaced by a new board elected by the membership. The director (acting director) also resigned and the deputy director subsequently left the museum.”

The membership revolt was almost unheard of in museum circles.

The new director, Dr. Robert Breunig took over fulltime in January, 2004 and re-opened the geology department as well as moving quickly to regain accreditation and rebuild the museums quality and reputation.

MNA is preparing a major new dinosaur exhibit for Fall 2007. AZGS will be working with world-renowned Museum paleontologist Dr. David Gillette to showcase the event.