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Dr. Heather Huyck to
Lead Jamestown 2007 Celebration
Washington, D.C., January 14-Today the
Director of the National Park Service (NPS) Robert Stanton
announced the appointment of Dr. Heather Huyck as the NPS
Project Director of the Jamestown 400th commemoration. Dr.
Huyck will assume the new assignment as special assistant to
the Deputy Director and open a new NPS office at Jamestown
on January 24.
Dr. Huyck will have the national responsibility for the
development and implementation of the planning and programs
for the 2007 celebration, marking the 400th anniversary of
the first permanent English colony in the New World, and the
beginnings of this American nation. "I am very pleased to
announce Dr. Huyck's appointment. Clearly the world will be
recognizing the prominence of
Jamestown 2007. The National Park Service must ensure
that our nation is ready. Dr. Huyck has the capability to
get the job done right," Stanton said.
Northeast Regional Director Marie Rust who has been a key
advocate for establishing this new national post said, "She
has done an excellent job getting the National Park Service
into performance management and the implementation of the
Government Performance and Results Act. She can now use her
talents as a planner, historian and manager to make the 2007
event as impressive as the 1957 one was 50 years ago." Rust
emphasized that Huyck will be working very closely with
Colonial National Historical Park, with the Association for
the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, with the
Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation and all the other key
partners. "This complex project has great potential, both
for the park and for the National Park Service. We need to
bring the 17th century and the 21st century together. This
is our opportunity to share the legacy of Jamestown--its
story and resources with the American people and the world.
I know she will do a good job further enhancing Colonial
National Historical Park."
Dr. Huyck said that she was very much looking forward to
returning to Virginia where she began her NPS career in 1971
as a seasonal at George Washington's Birthplace, to the
colonial history she so loves and to the challenge of
contributing to the preservation and presentation of the
irreplaceable resources at Jamestown Island. "Jamestown's
400th anniversary should be commemorated in ways that
recognize its significance and appeal to all people. As in
the1957 celebration, we should leave a lasting legacy for
future generations as well as a vivid one for the present."
Dr. Huyck has a BA from Carleton College and a MA in
Cultural Anthropology and Ph.D. in American History from the
University of Minnesota. She secured her first permanent NPS
assignment at Clara Barton NHS in 1978 and subsequently
served as an Interpretive Specialist in the Washington
Office, and as the Chief of Resource Management at National
Capital Parks-Central. In 1985 she won the American
Historical Association's Congressional Fellowship and became
a Congressional staff member for the House Subcommittee on
National Parks and Public Lands in 1987 before returning to
the NPS in January 1994 as Chief, Washington Office of
Strategic Planning. She has visited 266 units of the
National Park System.
The National Park Service is the nation's leading
conservation organization, preserving the natural and
cultural resources of the nearly 400 units of the national
park system for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of
this and future generations. |
