University Art Museum names new director

“I’m thrilled and honored to be joining Princeton University at this exciting time, especially in light of President Tilghman’s deep commitment to the arts,” Steward said in a statement.

The Art Museum is one component of President Tilghman’s arts initiative, which called for better integration of the museum’s exhibitions into the University’s intellectual life.

Steward is currently the director of the art museum at the University of Michigan and a professor at the university. He is a noted arts administrator and a specialist in 18th- and 19th-century European arts and culture.

Steward will replace Susan Taylor, who has served as director of the museum since 2000, and will begin working at the University in late April.

Steward has been a member of the faculty at the University of Michigan since 1998. During his tenure as director of that university’s museum he was responsible for successful planning and fundraising efforts that raised $42 million for an expansion and restoration project. The entire fundraising campaign raised more than $62 million in capital, endowment and operational gifts.

Steward is the recipient of several grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. He also serves on the government affairs committee of the Association of Art Museum Directors.

“He’s been an accomplished director of a major university art museum. He has all the experience of dealing with a building program. He has worked with a very broad constituency. He’s had an active education program, not just with the university but with the wider public,” said John Wilmerding, an emeritus art professor who chaired the search committee for the director position. “He has all the elements that make us feel he is perfectly prepared to take on this position.”