It is my pleasure to announce that Sonja Lunde has been appointed as the next Director of the Fleming Museum of Art following a national search with an outstanding candidate pool. Sonja will join our campus in mid-October, and comes to us from the Utah Museum of Fine Arts (UMFA) at the University of Utah, where she has extensive experience across museum departments, most recently serving as Deputy Director for Planning and Program. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Art History from George Washington University and a Master of Arts in Organizational and Strategic Communication from the University of Utah, where her thesis focused on communication essentials for university art museum leaders. 

Sonja has a strong commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) work in and through museums. As Vice President of the Western Museums Association Board, she helped lead that organization’s DEI Strategy Taskforce, and she was an early member of the group, Museums as Sites of Social Action. She is eager to continue and expand the excellent work of the Fleming Reimagined, begun by the Fleming staff under the leadership of retiring Director Janie Cohen, and connect it to our university-wide DEI strategic planning process initiated by Vice Provost for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Amer Ahmed.  

At the UMFA, Sonja’s work was both in managing daily operations, and aligning Museum strategic planning with university goals and priorities. A focus of her work with students, faculty, and staff has been centering DEI in museum work, from curatorial and collections management practices, to mentorship of museum professionals, diversifying museum roles and hiring practices, and community engagement. Through the innovative ACME Scholars program, she was the consulting supervisor and instructor for a year-long course on Rethinking Museums, in which students learned about contemporary museum work while participating in community engagement and outreach projects at the UMFA.

Born and raised in Vermont, Sonja has a special relationship to the Fleming, as one of her grandfather’s photographs from his days as a World War II naval photographer was featured in an exhibition at the museum.  She is eager to join the Fleming at an exciting time of new activities and partnerships, including the integration of the museum with our new School of the Arts. I am excited to welcome her ‘home’ to Vermont and to UVM to lead the Fleming as we focus on outreach to local communities and greater integration into the academic life of campus.

Patricia A. Prelock,
Provost and Senior Vice President