After 1st year, Smithsonian chief has big ideas

[September 05, 2009]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- Wayne Clough pulls a thumb-sized computer flash drive from his pocket and marvels at how many of the Smithsonian Institution's millions of objects can be captured on it.

The device holds sounds from endangered frogs, images from an archive of Depression-era paintings, a 360-degree view inside a Concorde supersonic jet and much more. The mini archive reflects one way the former engineer, now head of the institution, aims to share the collection of the world's largest museum complex online with more people than ever before.

"It is no longer acceptable for us to share only 1 percent of our 137 million specimens and artifacts in an age when the Internet has made it possible to share it all," Clough told curators and scientists earlier this year.

Unlike his predecessor, who sought to maximize the institution's potential as a visitor attraction and business enterprise, Clough is intent on building up the Smithsonian's science, research and educational impact beyond its walls.

A year into his new job, the 68-year-old former president of the Georgia Institute of Technology is reshaping the sprawling complex of 19 museums, the National Zoo and numerous research centers spread from Massachusetts to Kenya.

It's something of a back-to-the-basics approach for a place founded on science, with a mission to pursue the "increase and diffusion of knowledge."

Clough wants to combine the Smithsonian's resources to become a major voice on the toughest issues of the day. Among his key priorities: climate change, education and immigration.

"We can help our nation and the world face the grand challenges that lie ahead," he told the Smithsonian staff.

They're big goals. But he's already begun transforming the somewhat stuffy "nation's attic" (a term that makes Clough bristle) into a more innovative place.

"He is a scientist himself, and I think he really gets it," said Eva Pell, who will become the undersecretary for science in January. "All the ingredients are there - it's just a matter of bringing things together in a different way."

Pell, senior vice president for research and dean of the graduate school at Pennsylvania State University, said she was drawn by Clough's vision for bringing scientists and even curators in arts and history together to collaborate on research. It's an approach they believe could spark discoveries.

To bolster the Smithsonian's educational offerings, Clough recently secured a $1.3 million gift to hire an education director and create the institution's first central office focused on K-12 learning. (Previously, 32 different units carried out their own educational programs.)

When the country celebrated Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday in February, Clough oversaw the first interactive online link to 5,000 K-12 students and teachers in 50 states and 75 countries with lessons focused on the 16th president. Six curators showed off Lincoln artifacts and took questions. Another online conference about climate change is planned for later this month.

Clough has also forged new alliances with colleges.

A broad research collaboration is in the works with scientists and scholars at the University of Maryland. And he signed a deal with George Mason University in Virginia to build residence halls and laboratories as part of a joint-degree program pairing students with researchers at the National Zoo's 3,000-acre Conservation and Research Center in Front Royal, Va.

Less than a decade earlier, Lawrence Small, the previous Smithsonian chief, had proposed closing the Virginia facility, angering many scientists. Clough, though, is unflinching in his dedication to research.

"Zoos have to be research facilities," he said. "If they're just there for tourist attractions, they'll fail."

Scientists and curators said Clough brought a sense of excitement at a time when morale couldn't have been lower.

"It's a game changer really," said Steve Monfort, a longtime staff scientist who is now acting director of the zoo. "I'm seeing a change of culture that is setting in ... a sense that we have a secretary who is very strongly engaged."

In 2007, former secretary Small was forced out because of his high compensation and lavish spending - including charter jet rides and earnings of more than $900,000 - amid a shrinking work force and $2.5 billion in maintenance needs. Some executives followed him out.

Clough faced the task of implementing reforms and said it's still a work in progress. Among the changes: He began to lower the six-figure salaries of at least 17 top executives to conform with federal pay scales.

One of his biggest challenges will be raising money to reduce the Smithsonian's heavy reliance on Congress for funding. Federal funds provide about 65 percent of the estimated $1 billion annual budget. And the outlook for private philanthropy is gloomy because of the recession.

Still, Clough has quietly begun work on the Smithsonian's first major capital campaign with the goal of raising well over $1 billion.

"We need more big ideas," he said. "I've talked to donors who say 'Hey, I'm really interested in the fact that you have resources to be an honest broker in the climate change debate ... and I would be willing to put up significant money to do that.'"

One thing he doesn't plan to change, though, is the free admission at the museums. The American people own those museums, he said.

Clough has a track record for transforming institutions, a distinction that earned a chapter in Thomas L. Friedman's best-selling book "The World is Flat." Friedman described how Clough's philosophy of attracting science students with artistic and creative interest raised Georgia Tech's graduation rate and encouraged more creativity in engineering. Clough's work over 14 years raised the school's academic profile.

That vision of fusing science with the arts makes him a good fit for the Smithsonian, which holds numerous art, history and cultural treasures, Smithsonian American Art Museum director Betsy Broun said.

And Clough brought a focus on younger audiences, she said.

For example, Clough has urged staffers to engage visitors on Twitter or other social networks and build online games that feature museum collections.

"I worry about museums becoming less relevant to society," Clough said. "While it's a magnificent thing that 25 million visits are made to our museums each year, there's still over 300 million people out there who aren't visiting. So how do we reach the other 300 million?"

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On the Net:

Smithsonian Institution: http://www.si.edu/

[Associated Press; By BRETT ZONGKER]

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