JOHNSON CITY (June 29, 2021) – East Tennessee State University’s Center of Excellence for Appalachian Studies and Services announces a change in leadership for the B. Carroll Reece Museum. Current director Randy Sanders will retire as museum director on June 30, and collections manager Rebecca Proffitt will become the interim director.
A seventh-generation East Tennessean, Sanders is an ETSU graduate and an accomplished artist. He joined the Center of Excellence in March 2006 as managing editor of Now and Then magazine and as coordinator of marketing and public relations. He became interim director of the Reece Museum in 2014 and served as the permanent director from 2015-2021.
Although born in Johnson City, Sanders left Tennessee as a young boy, living a transient life as an “Army brat.” He has often said that coming to the Center of Excellence allowed him to better understand and connect to the region. Under his leadership, the museum expanded its collection, hosted a wide variety of exhibitions, and formed a diverse array of campus and community partnerships.
Dr. Ron Roach, director of the Center of Excellence, said, “Randy Sanders has been an integral part of the Center for the past 15 years. He has done an outstanding job as director of the Reece Museum and has helped to make it a vibrant part of both campus and community life. We will miss him and wish him a wonderful retirement.”
Proffitt, a folklorist with deep roots in East Tennessee, holds two degrees from ETSU, the bachelor of music education and the master of arts in Appalachian studies. She has more than 15 years of experience teaching in the arts and working in museums and historic sites, including Tipton-Haynes State Historic Site in Johnson City. Her varied experiences have helped her develop an appreciation for a wide range of cultural expressions.
“Rebecca has been an exemplary collections manager for the Reece Museum and will be an excellent interim director. Her background in arts education, museum administration, and Appalachian Studies are an ideal combination to continue making the Reece a leading art and history museum for our community and region,” Roach said.
The Reece Museum, housed in the Department of Appalachian Studies at ETSU, is a unit of the Center of Excellence for Appalachian Studies and Services, which resides in the same department. The museum is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, and is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. To learn more, call 423-439-4392. For information about current and upcoming exhibitions, visit etsu.edu/reece.
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Pictured at top are Rebecca Proffitt and Randy Sanders with one of Sanders’ favorite
artifacts from the original collection, a flax hatchel dating to 1826 that was donated
to the State College Museum (sometime prior to 1957), which became the B. Carroll
Reece Museum in 1965. This tool was used to process raw materials to make linen. The
iron teeth were used for dressing flax; the flax was combed over the hatchel to remove
the outer bark, which left cleaned flax that could be spun into thread.