By
Jose Ceja
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Provost heading up effort to organize the center's vision
Former Center for Creative Photography archivist Amy Rule will serve as acting director of the disputed museum and research center until a permanent director is found.
Rule - who has been with the CCP for 19 years - will begin at her new post Friday after what has been a turbulent time for the world-renowned center.
Many have petitioned for the CCP - which is considered to be among the finest institutions of its kind - to be liberated from the control of the university library system, which many fear could hurt the museum's contemporary art functions.
University of Arizona Provost George Davis ruled in September that the museum will remain under the control of the libraries.
The concern, Rule said, was caused by misinformation, and the CCP never intended to alter its mission.
"The mission (of the CCP) will not change. That is not true," Davis said.
Two weeks ago, escalating concern prompted Carla Stoffle, dean of libraries, to hold a meeting with faculty and students to address rumors and clarify the center's future.
"People were very concerned," Rule said. "Now that it's out in the open, people will be able to relax a little."
Stoffle wrote in a memo to deans, directors and department heads last week that the search for a new director will begin by early next semester.
Stoffle wrote that the search for a new director will begin with a "Vision of Opportunity" - a document that will be composed by Davis and UA faculty which will aid in the recruitment process.
"It's a way to describe and articulate what the center is now and what it will be in the future," Davis said.
Davis said Rule is a highly regarded archivist and librarian who will provide leadership to the center.
"We're going to make it so the public doesn't even know that we are undergoing change," Rule said.
Jose Ceja can be reached at jose.ceja@wildcat.arizona.edu.
