I would think, if your trustee is a staff member at a museum on a
completely unrelated subject, there would be minimal conflict of interest.
And the benefits of having someone on the board who is personally familiar
with the issues that affect museums from the staff perspective can be
extremely useful.  We are a small university Medical Museum and we have a
staff member from the university Art Museum on our Advisory Committee.  It
has worked out very well for us and, because he works at the Art Museum,
there has never been an apparent conflict of interest.  (Our funding comes
from different parts of the University budget so this hasn't been a
problem.)  That said, I do think that this could be a sticky situation and
deserves some serious consideration before jumping into it.

Cris Wolf Harper

Collections Manager
UIHC Medical Museum
8024A JCP/200 Hawkins Dr.
Iowa City, IA 52242
(319) 356-8475  FAX (319) 356-3862

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