Vanderbilt Museum director resigns

The head of the Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum, Carol Ghiorsi Hart, is resigning to pursue an anthropology teaching job, she and the museum board's president said.

Board president Noel Gish said the decision on Wednesday was "mutual" for Hart to leave next month after three years as executive director, indicating she left under pressure from the board.

Gish denied Hart was forced out but did say the board and Hart had different views on the museum's direction.

He did not elaborate and Hart said, "I'm not really sure what he was referring to." She said her relationship with the board has always been excellent "and we share a lot of the same vision."

She added that "the museum is part of a county and there's always politics beyond the board."

Hart and the board have been under a lot of pressure from county legislators to generate more revenue from the facility, which has been in financial stress since the economy went sour and the value of its endowment plunged.

The museum, on Little Neck Road in Centerport, is in the early 1900s mansion of William K. Vanderbilt II. It has marine and natural history exhibits and a planetarium.

Hart had a contract that expired next October. She said she will leave in mid-March to pursue anthropology teaching positions and has one offer she is considering.

She had taught anthropology before coming to the museum in 1994 and serving as a curator and in other positions.

"I have loved the museum," Hart said. "It's a spectacular institution. In the last three years as executive director, I've been there seven days a week helping the museum get through the economic crisis that it's been in. And I'm very proud of the fact that unlike many museums we didn't have to make any severe cutbacks to our service to the public."

She said she is particularly pleased to have overseen the purchase of a new star projector and audio system for the planetarium.

The contract was signed last week and installation is slated for June 2012.

County Legis. John Cooper (D-Huntington) said, "I wish Carol the best with her new job opportunity." He added he was "thrilled" that "the crown jewel of Suffolk County's museum system" will hold a national search for a new executive director.