For immediate use
Director of Morehead Planetarium and Science Center at UNC-Chapel Hill elected president of the Association of Science Museum Directors
(Chapel Hill, N.C. – Feb. 19, 2016) – Todd Boyette, Ph.D., director of Morehead Planetarium and Science Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has been elected president of the Association of Science Museum Directors (ASMD).
As president, Boyette will lead an organization that serves 54 institutions including science museums, science centers and natural history museums in Canada and the United States. He was elected during the annual meeting of ASMD (Feb. 3-6) in Vancouver, British Columbia. Previously, Boyette served as vice president of the organization.
“We were pleased to recommend Todd Boyette as our next ASMD president,” said Bryan Tisdall, who chaired the ASMD nominating committee and serves as president/CEO of Science World in Vancouver. “His longtime participation in ASMD and his leadership as our vice president over the past three years made him an ideal candidate.”
Boyette is a co-founder of the North Carolina Science Festival and a clinical assistant professor in the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Education. Before coming to Carolina, he served as executive director of Imagination Station (Wilson, N.C.) and president/CEO of The Health Adventure (Asheville, N.C.). Boyette is also a founding member of North Carolina’s Grassroots Science Museums Collaborative.
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About the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the nation’s first public university, is a global higher education leader known for innovative teaching, research and public service. A member of the prestigious Association of American Universities, Carolina regularly ranks as the best value for academic quality in U.S. public higher education. Now in its third century, the University offers 77 bachelor’s, 113 master’s, 68 doctorate and seven professional degree programs through 14 schools and the College of Arts and Sciences. Every day, faculty – including two Nobel laureates – staff and students shape their teaching, research and public service to meet North Carolina’s most pressing needs in every region and all 100 counties. Carolina’s more than 308,000 alumni live in all 50 states and 150 countries. More than 167,000 live in North Carolina.
About Morehead Planetarium and Science Center
Morehead Planetarium and Science Center is the informal science education resource of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Its programs include planetarium shows, exhibits, live science demonstrations, lectures, camps and classes. Founded in 1949, the center serves more than 150,000 visitors each year, produces the North Carolina Science Festival and offers outreach programming to every county in North Carolina. For more information, visit www.moreheadplanetarium.org
Morehead Planetarium and Science Center contact: Karen Kornegay, (919) 843-7952, kck@unc.edu
Communications and Public Affairs contact: Michael John, (919) 445-8360, Michael.john@unc.edu