On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Amistad Research Center, and the Center's staff, I am pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Kara Tucina Olidge to the position of Executive Director of the Center, effective May 1, 2015. Founded in 1966 on the campus of Fisk University and currently located in Tilton Memorial Hall on the uptown campus of Tulane University, the Center is the oldest, largest and most comprehensive independent archive specializing in the history of African-Americans and other ethnic minorities.

Dr. Olidge, a native New Orleanian and graduate of McDonogh 35 High School, comes to the Center from the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York City, where she has served as Deputy Director since 2012. From 2010 to 2012, she was Director of the Hetrick-Martin Institute in Newark, New Jersey.

Dr. Olidge earned her Ph.D. (Educational Administration and Educational Leadership and Policy) from the State University of New York (Buffalo) in 2010. She also has an M.A. in Arts Administration from the University of New Orleans and a B.A. in Philosophy from Spelman College.

With a broad background and proven accomplishments in the areas vital to the leadership of the Center (strategic planning, program development, management, advocacy and fundraising), the Board is very enthusiastic about this important appointment. She succeeds Lee Hampton, who retired in June 2014.

The Board was assisted in this national search by the Hawkins Company of Los Angeles. The search committee was chaired by Board member Mrs. Sybil Morial.

Kim Boyle

President of the Board of Directors of the Amistad Research Center