At Monday’s work/study session of the Van Buren Township Board of Trustees, Supervisor Paul White introduced Kathryn M. Dallos, the new director of the Belleville Area Museum.
Supervisor White said he had hired Dallos on a part-time basis to take over after current full-time director Diane Wilson leaves at the end of June.
White said the agreement has yet to be worked out, but he expects to pay her $22.50 an hour for 29 hours a week, because, “That’s all we have in the budget.”
Dallos of Wyandotte earned a master’s degree in Historic Preservation from Eastern Michigan University in May 2008. Her concentration was in historic administration and heritage interpretation/tourism.
Her bachelor’s degree was from the University of Michigan, Dearborn, in 1997 in psychology, sociology, public relations and communication. She is a 1993 graduate of Theodore Roosevelt High School in Wyandotte.
Currently she is assisting the Northwest Ohio region with the Civil War Sesquicentennial commemoration activities through AmeriCorps at $10 per hour.
Belleville resident Tom Fielder, a member of the Historical Society, explained how they found Dallos. He said he and Fred Hudson, society president, asked the head of the EMU museum program to identify some of his former students who might fit into a small-town-type museum.
Fielder said seven or eight were identified and although they were very talented people, none fit what they were looking for until they interviewed Dallos. She exceeded their expectations, Fielder said.
Fielder said Dallos worked as an intern with Wilson who said she was better than her credentials indicated.
He said the Historical Society was called in and told about Dallos and their hopes that she will be attracting the new generation of volunteers and generate in them a passion for the museum.
Fielder told the township board on Monday that he shares their disappointment in the city and, although he is only one voter in Belleville, “I’m lobbying as hard as I can.”
He referred to the city’s reduction in funds for the museum.
Kathryn Dallos