 "Photo: Daniel Hernandez-Luna")
Students, faculty and staff crowded the breezeway of the Meriam Library on Thursday for the grand opening of the Valene L. Smith Museum of Anthropology.
Smith, a former Chico State anthropology professor, was honored after she presented the university with $4.6 million, one of the two largest individual gifts it has ever received in private funds, President Paul Zingg said.
Zingg addressed Smith directly with his opening words.
“This is a powerful lesson that goes beyond your expertise because it comes from your heart,” Zingg said.
The impact of Smith’s donations will be on display this week, as student-guided tours of the new exhibit, “Living on Top of the World: Arctic Adaptations, Survival and Stewardship” will be available from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
The display will be open until May 24, according to a Chico State press release.
The exhibit was designed and built by museum studies students, as Chico State is one of the only universities in the nation to offer an opportunity for undergraduates to work in a museum setting, said Gayle Hutchinson, the dean of behavioral and social sciences.
The addition to the campus is a new way for people to learn, said Stacy Schaefer, co-director of the museum.
“This is not only a museum, but a hands-on learning experience for our students,” Schaefer said.
Despite her accomplishments and generosity, Smith feels “embarrassed” by the praise, deferring credit to Keith Johnson, the anthropology professor who founded the program, she said.
“Keith is the one who deserves all of this, but the world runs on money,” Smith said. “I was fortunate enough to inherit quite a bit of it from my husband and I know he would have wanted me to give back to the community.”
Smith earned emeritus status after a nationally renowned career as an anthropology professor from 1967 to 1998, along with pioneering the tourism industry for native villages in the Canadian and Alaskan arctic, said Sharon Johnson, one of Smith’s friends.
Smith has always been fast-paced and devoted to her studies, Johnson said.
“She has developed herself as much as possible and we are very fortunate to have crossed paths with her,” Johnson said. “She’s awfully hard to keep up with.”
Howard Hardee can be reached at
hhardee@theorion.com
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