Wanda Chin ’74

Wanda Chin ’74 received the 2009 Governor’s Awards for Arts and Humanities in the category of arts advocacy. Awarded by the governor of Alaska, the award was given to Chin for her tireless work in promotion of the arts.

For the past 25 years, Chin has served as the exhibition and design director at the University of Alaska Museum of the North. She has also been a member of the Alaska State Council on the Arts under Governor Wally Hickel and a trustee for the Western Museums Association and the Western States Arts Federation. Chin and her husband, Terry Dickey, were jointly awarded the Western Museums Association Director’s Chair Award. She has also worked as a fellow for both Kellogg and the National Endowment for the Arts.

“Arts and museums are vital to healthy communities – they inspire and teach,” Chin says. “UCLA provided that vital environment for me. I am a child of immigrants, and UCLA gave me opportunities to learn a language of community that helped me in these 30 years as an artist, designer, museum professional and parent.”

Her love for the arts and education is transparent through her impassioned thoughts on the continuation of the arts: “We need to continue to open doors, build relationships, share stories and objects and connect our communities,” she says. “Public schools and institutions provide a completion of education in teaching in different ways – With objects, images and media, people of different languages and backgrounds have a way of understanding beyond words.”

Sponsored by the Alaska State Council on the Arts, the Alaska Humanities Forum and the Office of the Governor, the Governor’s Awards are given yearly to celebrate those who have gone above and beyond to ensure the preservation of the arts and humanities.

For information on the Alaska State Council on the Arts.