Interim NEA Chairman Named

Robert Martin, newly appointed director of the federal Institute for Museum and Library Services, also has been named acting chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts.

Martin was appointed to the NEA post Tuesday night by the Senate. He was a professor and interim director of the School of Library and Information Studies at Texas Woman’s University before joining the institute, which supports education, access and preservation at libraries and museums.

Martin’s long career as a library professional and scholar includes serving as director and state librarian of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission from 1995 to 1999.

Martin will succeed Chairman Bill Ivey, who came to the NEA from a longtime post as director of Nashville’s Country Music Foundation. Ivey surprised Washington’s arts leadership in April by resigning effective Sept. 30, eight months before the end of his four-year term.