The Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History hosted its Leadership Circles of Giving Dinner on Thursday, January 16 in Fleischmann Auditorium. The annual event recognized the generosity of Leadership Circles Members and key donors who helped sustain the Museum and Sea Center’s work during the past year.
UCSB Professor Emeritus Michael Glassow, Ph.D., has contributed to the work of the Museum’s Department of Anthropology since the 1970s. His contributions to archaeological literature—often made in partnership with the Museum—are foundational to the current understanding of how the Chumash ancestors inhabited and adapted to the natural world of this region for thousands of years. Dr. Glassow remains actively involved in research and publication, and has recently authored a forthcoming book-length overview of the archaeology of the Central Coast, written for a popular audience. This will be the first work of its kind in almost a century, collecting the vast body of knowledge accumulated in the field since the Museum’s first Curator of Anthropology, David Banks Rogers, published Prehistoric Man of the Santa Barbara Coast in 1929.
Geologist John Powell, M.A., has stewarded the legacy of legendary geologist Thomas W. Dibblee, Jr. to the great benefit of science, industry, and the public interest. In over 60 years of active mapping, Dibblee mapped the geology of over a quarter of California. Serving for 30 years on the board of the Dibblee Foundation, Powell has worked with the Museum to publish Dibblee’s outstanding compilation of maps in digital and print formats. He has repeatedly joined forces with the Museum to bring geologic knowledge to life, including memorable field trips to areas like the Carrizo Plain National Monument, where trip participants could actually straddle the tectonic plates on both sides of the San Andreas Fault.
Educator Peter Sawyer, M.S., has volunteered at the Sea Center for 6 years. Sawyer taught at the Thacher School until 2009, and upon retirement transferred his teaching skills to the Sea Center’s marine exhibits. A familiar face on the Wet Deck, Sawyer generously shares his enthusiasm and patience with countless Sea Center guests, supported by his background in biology and ecology. He loves to help guests—some of whom return many times for repeated exchanges—discover the wonders of marine life right below their feet on Stearns Wharf.
Sawyer has high praise for the unique and intimate learning opportunities offered by the Sea Center: “Visitors are amazed at how much information and wonder is packed into such a ‘little’ aquarium,” he says. “The tide pool exhibition and the Wet Deck rival the experiences our guests would get at the most prestigious facilities.”
The Museum’s final honoree of the night was instrumental in building the structure that creates those learning opportunities. Paul Wieckowski, longtime leader of Frank Schipper Construction Co., recalls needing to wear not just a hard hat, but a life vest during the construction of the Sea Center on Stearns Wharf. Walking across narrow i-beams over the water with this unique combination of PPE is one of many memorable moments for Wieckowski across a career full of updates and improvements to unique Santa Barbara spaces. As SBMNH Board Chair Salvatore Milazzo put it, over the course of many projects for the institution, “Paul has gotten to know every inch of the Museum and Sea Center from the inside out.” With a century of history behind the organization, community contributors like Wieckowski and the other honorees are preparing the Museum and Sea Center to serve for the next 100 years.
Leadership Circles Members play a critical role in supporting all facets of the Museum and Sea Center’s work, including education, research, exhibits, collections, and accessibility initiatives. Visit sbnature.org/leadership-circles for more information.
The dinner was catered by Events by Rincon and wine supported by Renegade Wines.
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