The Weatherspoon Art Museum at UNC Greensboro is pleased to announce the appointment of Meiyolet (Mei) Méndez in the newly created position of Assistant Director for Strategic Engagement.

Méndez joined the Weatherspoon team on January 9, 2023 in a highly collaborative role to develop and maintain mutually beneficial strategic community partnerships and communications; access, inclusion, and belonging; and other institutionally impactful initiatives. She will also participate ex officio on the newly formed Weatherspoon Art Museum Council.

Juliette Bianco, the Anne and Ben Cone Memorial Endowed Director said, “Mei Méndez is a creative and empathetic leader, and we are delighted to welcome her to UNCG. Méndez’s knowledge and experiences, grounded in developing and sustaining meaningful partnerships and learning from historically and culturally significant objects, will deepen the Weatherspoon’s commitment to access and engagement with our communities.”

Méndez remarks, “I am excited to join the Weatherspoon Art Museum to help develop and nurture existing and new relationships that grow from a shared understanding of the role of art in our cultural imaginations. I look forward to working with my new colleagues to continue advancing the museum’s mission of connecting communities via the art we present, interpret, and collect.”

Méndez holds a BA in history with a minor in English from Florida International University in Miami and a master’s degree in library and information studies from the University of Alabama, where she had an Institute of Museum and Library Studies (IMLS) Fellowship. Until 2017, she served as the Interim Esperanza Bravo de Varona Chair of the Cuban Heritage Collection and Librarian Associate Professor at the University of Miami, Coral Gables. More recently, she served as program officer for the Boston Library Consortium and then project manager for the Eastern Academic Scholars’ Trust. Méndez curated many exhibitions from the Cuban Heritage Collection’s special collections and has published articles and spoken at conferences on library studies, collections and exhibit planning, collaborative instruction, and mentorship.

About the Weatherspoon Art Museum

Mission
Embracing its public service role, the Weatherspoon Art Museum at UNC Greensboro fosters the ability of art to impact lives and connect multiple communities.

History
The Weatherspoon Art Museum at UNC Greensboro was founded by Gregory Ivy in 1941 and is the earliest of any art facilities within the UNC system. The museum was founded as a resource for the campus, community, and region and its early leadership developed an emphasis—maintained to this day—on presenting and acquiring modern and contemporary works of art. A 1950 bequest from the renowned collection of Claribel and Etta Cone, including prints and bronzes by Henri Matisse and other works on paper by American and European modernists, helped establish the Weatherspoon’s permanent collection. During Ivy’s tenure, other prescient acquisitions included a 1951 suspended mobile by Alexander Calder, Willem de Kooning’s pivotal 1949-50 Woman, and the first drawings by Eva Hesse and Robert Smithson to enter a museum collection.

In 1989, the museum moved into its present location in The Anne and Benjamin Cone Building designed by the architectural firm Mitchell Giurgula. The museum has six galleries and a sculpture courtyard with over 17,000 square feet of exhibition space. The American Alliance of Museums accredited the Weatherspoon in 1995 and renewed its accreditation in 2005 and 2015.

Collections + Exhibitions
The permanent collection of the Weatherspoon Art Museum is one of the foremost of its kind in the Southeast. It represents all major art movements from the beginning of the 20th century to the present. Among the nearly 6,200 works in the collection are pieces by such prominent figures as Henry Ossawa Tanner, Edward Weston, Joseph Stella, David Smith, Jackson Pollock, Elizabeth Catlett, Louise Nevelson, Gordon Parks, Sol LeWitt, Robert Mangold, Cindy Sherman, Adrian Piper, Betye Saar, Amy Silman, Nick Cave, Jennifer Steinkamp, and Sanford Biggers. The museum regularly lends to major exhibitions nationally and internationally.

The Weatherspoon is also known for its dynamic exhibition program. Through a lively annual calendar of exhibitions and a multi-disciplinary educational program for audiences of all ages, the museum provides an opportunity for visitors to consider artistic, cultural, and social issues of our time—enriching the life of our university, community, and region.

UNC Greensboro
Led by Chancellor Franklin D. Gilliam, Jr., UNC Greensboro is one of only 59 doctoral institutions recognized by the Carnegie Foundation for higher research activity and community engagement. Founded in 1891 and one of the original three UNC System institutions, UNC Greensboro is one of the most diverse universities in NC with 20,000+ students and 3,000+ faculty and staff members from 90+ nationalities. With 17 Division I athletic teams, 85 undergraduate degrees in over 125 areas of study, and 74 master’s and 32 doctoral programs, UNC Greensboro is consistently recognized nationally among the top universities for academic excellence and value. For additional information, please visit uncg.edu and follow UNCG on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.


Weatherspoon Art Museum
UNC Greensboro | 500 Tate Street, PO Box 26170
Greensboro, NC 27402-6170, (336) 334-5770, weatherspoon@uncg.edu

For more information or press images, contact:
Loring Mortensen, (336) 256-1451, lamorten@uncg.edu