The Daily Bulletin Archive

The Burchfield-Penney Art Center and Buffalo State College are pleased to announce the appointment of three new members to the museum staff.

Becky Powell has accepted appointment as director of development for the museum. Powell is responsible for all fundraising activities including membership, corporate and private support, foundation relations, and special events.

Powell comes to the Burchfield-Penney after seven years as director of development and general counsel for the Society of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, where her responsibilities included developing, overseeing, and implementing strategies for cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship of unrestricted and restricted gifts to the annual fund, the endowment fund, and for capital projects. Before joining the SPCA, Powell raised funds for the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, the World Monuments Fund, and the Museum of Modern Art. She earned a bachelor of arts in art history from Georgia State University and a juris doctor from the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Kathy Gaye Shiroki joins the museum as curator of museum learning and community engagement. Shiroki will maintain and enhance the relationship of the Burchfield-Penney and the college’s academic programs by providing learning opportunities for students through the museum’s wealth of educational resources.

Shiroki came to Buffalo State College in 2007 as a lecturer in the Art Education Department—a position she will continue to hold while working with the Burchfield-Penney. Before joining the Buffalo State faculty, Shiroki spent nearly three years as an art teacher for Buffalo’s Oracle Charter School. From 1994 to 2005, she served as the assistant curator of education at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, establishing educational partnerships and opportunities with Buffalo Public Schools, Buffalo State College, and the Just Buffalo Literary Center. Shiroki’s art education career has also included stops at the Salt Lake City Art Center, in Utah; the Nicolaysen Art Museum and Discovery Center, in Casper, Wyoming; the University of Wyoming; the Washington Arts Council, in Seattle, Washington; and the Montana Arts Council, in Helena, Montana.

Shiroki earned a master of fine arts from the University of California, San Diego, in 1989 and a bachelor of fine arts from Temple University’s Tyler School of Art in 1982.

David M. Tanner joins the Burchfield-Penney as chief operating officer for the museum. In preparation for the Burchfield-Penney’s move to its new facility in the fall, Tanner brings expertise in facility management, finance, and human resources to the organization.

Tanner was associate director of administration at the Indiana University Art Museum in Bloomington, Indiana, where he was responsible for managing all budget and finance functions, human resources, public relations and marketing, and visitor services. His past appointments also include executive director for the Association of Midwest Museums in St. Louis, Missouri; executive director of the Washington County History Society in West Bend, Wisconsin; and executive director of the Peoria Historical Society in Peoria, Illinois.

Tanner earned a bachelor of arts in English, history, and paralegal studies and a master of public administration with a concentration in museum administration from Southern Illinois University Carbondale, in Carbondale, Illinois. In 2007, he received an honorable mention from the American Association of Museums for the case study “Innovation and Teamwork: A Modest Ticketing Project Yields Accurate Attendance Figures,” based on a project undertaken at the IU Art Museum.