Message to USC PAM Supporters
From: Michael W. Quick, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
March 9, 2018
I write to share the news that Christina Yu Yu, director of the USC Pacific Asia Museum, has accepted a position at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, where she has been appointed as the Matsutaro Shoriki Chair, Art of Asia. She will remain in her present position until May 1, 2018.
Dr. Yu Yu led the Pacific Asia Museum at a critical time: She was our first director of the museum since it became part of our academic community. An expert in both historic and contemporary Chinese art, she brought her vision and leadership to offer nationally and internationally recognized exhibitions, developed the first Master Plan for the museum, and built a strong Board of Councilors and group of loyal advocates and benefactors.
I am proud that Dr. Yu Yu has taken this local gallery and turned it into a vibrant, reinvigorated university museum that serves the Pasadena neighborhood and the wider Los Angeles community. The public programming at PAM now serves a broader, more diverse audience of families, visitors, and academic scholars.
Dr. Yu Yu completed a collections survey, providing an inventory of all 17,000 objects in the museum’s permanent collection that are ready to be studied by scholars. And, she oversaw a 17-month project involving seismic and other physical improvements at PAM.
Dr. Yu Yu elevated PAM to a world-class art museum that adds greatly to our university and academic mission. Please join President Nikias and me in thanking Christina for her tremendous leadership of the Pacific Asia Museum, and we wish her much success in her next role.
Cc: C. L. Max Nikias
USC Pacific Asia Museum Board of Councilors
Academic Senate
Academic Deans
President’s Cabinet
Provost’s Cabinet