The University Record, September 24, 1996
Art and Design dedicates Robbins Center for Graduate Studies Friday
The University community will gather at 6 p.m. Friday (Sept. 27) at the School of Art & Design to dedicate a new Center for Graduate Studies named for Warren M. Robbins, the founder of the National Museum of African Art at the Smithsonian Institution.
The Warren M. Robbins Center for Graduate Studies is located in Room 2000 on the second floor of the School of Art & Design in the Art and Architecture Building. The new 1,800-square-foot facility is designed to highlight graduate student activities within the School and to provide a centralized facility for graduate study in the arts, including an exhibition space, a computer lab, a classroom and meeting space, and a reference and periodicals lounge.
“The naming of the Center for Warren M. Robbins is a fitting tribute to a man dedicated to the advancement of the visual in our collective lives,” says Edward West, associate dean for graduate education. The National Museum of African Art’s founder and now its director emeritus, Robbins received the Alumni Achievement Award from U-M in 1994 and is currently on the advisory board of the School of Art & Design. A graduate of the class of 1949, with majors in history and cultural anthropology, Robbins conducted a highly successful career in the Department of State before returning to Washington to found the museum.
The dedication will be marked by an opening exhibition in the Graduate Center of works by artists currently participating in the graduate program, as well as a performance by Frank Pahl, international artist and current School of Art & Design graduate student. In conjunction with the dedication, the Jean Paul Slusser Gallery will present a selection of works from Warren M. Robbins’ personal collection of African textiles.
The Warren M. Robbins Center for Graduate Studies plans an ongoing exhibition schedule of student work and that of national and international artists and designers, as well as hosting special events. The current exhibitions coordinator for the Graduate Center is graduate student Augusto Arbizo.
The Warren M. Robbins Center for Graduate Studies is open 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri. For information, call Arbizo or West, 763-0457.
