Bowers receives $2-million gift

After opening a new $14.6-million wing in February to house the special exhibitions it considers its signature, the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art in Santa Ana has received an anonymous donation of $2 million to create an endowment to defray the costs of those exhibitions. The contribution, equal to the $2 million that Dorothy and Donald Kennedy donated to have the new wing named for themselves, launches the Bowers on an effort to build an endowment. Officials said Friday that they aim to tie fundraising efforts for the endowment to the museum’s 75th anniversary celebration in 2011.

The museum also announced it has appointed Inez Wolins as vice president for development and marketing. She was senior director for education and visitor services at the Autry National Center in L.A. From 1992 to 2004, Wolins was executive director of art museums in Wichita, Kan.; Gainesville, Fla.; and Great Falls, Mont. -- weathering some turbulent times, according to local press accounts, that included the loss of her job at the University of Florida’s Harn Museum in 2000 after it was discovered she had not received a New York University doctoral degree listed on her resume.

-- Mike Boehm