News of the Organization
Jon Jarvis

Jarvis

 

 

 

 

Jim Leach

Leach

President Obama Nominates Jon Jarvis Director of the National Park Service

Jonathan B. Jarvis was confirmed on September 24 by the U.S. Senate as the eighteenth director of the National Park Service. A thirty-two-year veteran of the National Park Service, Jarvis said that he was grateful for the appointment and “excited to get to work.” In a public statement, Jarvis noted that “[t]here is energy out there around climate change, around the smart use and protection of our public lands and under this secretary’s leadership I think we’re going to do great things right up there with the kind of legacy that was laid on the ground by past presidents like Teddy Roosevelt.” Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar administered the oath of office.

Jim Leach Sworn in
as New NEH Chair

Former Congressman Jim Leach was sworn in as chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities on August 13, 2009. During his thirty-year service as a Republican congressman from Iowa, Leach founded and cochaired the Congressional Humanities Caucus, which advocates on behalf of the humanities in the House of Representatives and is dedicated to promoting the humanities in the United States. After leaving Congress in 2007, Leach taught at Princeton University and served as the interim director of the Institute of Politics at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Mark Updegrove Named
Director of LBJ Library

Acting Archivist of the United States Adrienne Thomas announced the appointment of presidential historian Mark K. Updegrove as the new director of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library and Museum in Austin, Texas. Updegrove is the author of two major works on the presidency, Second Acts: Presidential Lives and Legacies after the White House (Lyons Press), and Baptism by Fire: Eight Presidents Who Took Office in Times of Crisis (St. Martin’s Press).

Mr. Updegrove was formerly the director of business development at Rawle Murdy, a communications firm. From 2005-2007, he directed advertising sales, marketing, and operations for Yahoo! Canada and, prior to that, served in similar positions as the publisher of Nickelodeon Magazine and MTV Magazine, and publisher of Newsweek.