AMHERST, Mass. - Charles C. (Sandy) Wilkes, Class of 1971 and Parent, Class of 2008, was elected to a three-year term as Chair of the Advisory Board of the Mead Art Museum at Amherst College at the group's meeting at the Museum on January 28, 2012. Mr. Wilkes is Chairman of The Wilkes Company, a Washington, DC-based real estate development company engaged in mixed-use, sustainable urban development in the nation's capitol.

The Mead's twenty-five member Advisory Board is charged with reviewing the Museum's acquisitions, loans, and governance policies, and with assisting the Museum in achieving its mission to "stimulate thought, inspire creativity, provide insight, interrogate preconceptions, and invite contemplation through interaction with the original works of art that the Museum collects, researches, interprets, exhibits, publishes, and preserves."  

Mr. Wilkes succeeds the Advisory Board's first Chair, Brooke Kamin Rapaport, Class of 1984, an independent curator, writer, and contributing editor of Sculpture magazine, who served from 2008. The Mead's director, Elizabeth Barker, notes: "The Museum has been exceptionally fortunate to have as its founding Chair a colleague with Brooke's broad and deep knowledge of museums, art history, and Amherst College. Under her leadership, the Board became a cohesive and effective advocate for the Museum. All of us at the Mead feel deeply grateful for her service, and look forward to working with Sandy to continue to realize the extraordinary potential of Amherst's art museum in the months and years ahead."    

Mr. Wilkes's other responsibilities include serving as a trustee of the Federal City Council in Washington, where he is also President of The Washington Children's Foundation, a founding member of The Downtown Developer Roundtable, and the DC Streetcar Partnership. He and his wife, Helen, collect nineteenth-century European sculpture.

Other Advisory Board members include Danielle Allen, Trustee of Amherst College; Linda and Ronald Daitz, Class of 1961, and Parents, Class of 1988; Charles Eldredge, Class of 1966, Parent, Class of 1990, and Trustee Emeritus of Amherst College; Suzannah Fabing, Director Emerita of the Smith College Museum of Art; Thomas R. Firman, Class of 1966; Loretta Howard, Class of 1983; Younghee Kim-Wait, Class of 1982; John Middleton, Class of 1977 and Trustee of Amherst College; Scott Niichel, Class of 2006; Brooke Kamin Rapaport, Class of 1984 and Chair Emerita of the Advisory Board; Kenneth Rosenthal, Class of 1960 and Secretary of the Advisory Board; Axel Schupf, Class of 1957, Parent, Classes of 1987 and 1981, and Trustee Emeritus of Amherst College; Perrin Stein, Class of 1984 and Parent, Class of 2012; Bette and Thomas Sturges II, Class of 1966, and Parents, Class of 2005; Helen Wilkes, Parent, Class of 2008; and Patricia and Philip Winterer, Class of 1953 and Trustee Emeritus of Amherst College.

The Mead Art Museum houses the art collection of Amherst College, totaling more than 16,000 artworks spanning many world cultures. An accredited member of the American Association of Museums, the Mead participates in Museums10, a regional cultural collaboration. During the academic term, the museum is open Tuesday through Thursday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to midnight and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday. For more information about the Mead's collection and programs, please visit the Museum's Web site, www.amherst.edu/museums/mead, or call 413/542-2335.

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