NEW YORK, Nov. 18 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Smithsonian Institution quietly removed the director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum this summer and placed her in another role, following years of complaints from staff about her management of the prominent institution, reported The Washington Post on Monday.
Stephanie Stebich, who joined the museum as director in 2017, told staff in July that she was taking indefinite medical leave. In September, she became a senior adviser within the Smithsonian Institution.
"Current and former employees at the American Art Museum and its Renwick Gallery, which Stebich also led, accused the director of having a management style that frequently left staff members frustrated and confused," said the report.
After years of declining morale, several senior staffers in the museum system outlined their complaints in a letter to Smithsonian leadership in July 2023, said the report. But members of the board of commissioners at the American Art Museum didn't learn about the extent of dissatisfaction among staff until this year.
Stebich was known as a strong fundraiser. But "she was an inexperienced director for an institution the size and complexity of SAAM (Smithsonian American Art Museum)," said Virginia Mecklenburg, a longtime curator who retired from the museum in April, noted the report, quoting a board member as saying that "she was very good at managing up. She was not very good at managing down." ■