New director shows off his favorite at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 1/5/16

David Templeton, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; New director shows off his favorite at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History:

"Mr. Dorfman, 52, began his role as museum director on Aug. 31, based largely on notable successes he had during a 4½-year stint as director of the Whanganui Regional Museum and Ward Observatory on New Zealand’s North Island.

That dual-culture museum with half its board members from the indigenous Maori population persuaded him to interact with the community to understand how the museum best could reflect local culture and community interests. That connection helped him craft a visitor-friendly thrust of exhibitions and programs weaving indigenous perspectives with natural and cultural history. In one example, he had Maori artists do modern artwork with gourds while encouraging children communitywide to grow them.

And such ideas worked with annual visitation quadrupling in four years from 19,000 to 74,000 people, and the museum’s funding base expanding by 35 percent...

“He’s demonstrated leadership skills and is well-versed in natural history museums and the challenges facing them,” said Lee B. Foster, chairman of the natural history museums board of directors. “And he is someone who has dealt with and accomplished change in improving the visitor experience and admissions.”

His skill in interacting regularly with the community coupled with fundraising success “probably were the key characteristics we were looking for, and I can tell you that Eric hit every one of them,” he said."