Teresa Lenling has been named as director of the George W. Bush Presidential Museum, a role in which she will drive all facets of the Bush Museum’s programs and lines of business, the George W. Bush Presidential Center announced.
She joins the organization as the George W. Bush Presidential Center celebrates its 10th Anniversary. The Bush Center opened its doors on May 1, 2013, and in the decade since, it’s welcomed more than 1,900,000 visitors from across the world.
Ken Hersh, the President and CEO of the Bush Center, is delighted to welcome Lenling to the museum. In a recent statement, Hersh expressed his confidence in Lenling’s vast knowledge and experience in museum leadership and operations. Hersh said her appointment will help the museum advance its goal of “being a place that promotes greater understanding of the American presidency and our Nation’s continued pursuit of freedom,”
With Lenling at the helm, Hersh believes that the museum’s impact will expand both locally and across the nation.
Most recently, Lenling was CEO for the Frontiers of Flight Museum, a premier aerospace museum in Dallas. While there, she worked to reenergize and modernize the community’s awareness of the museum.
Lenling also worked at the Perot Museum of Nature and Science from 2010 to 2020, where she rose from assistant director of education to vice president of school and community engagement. At the Perot Museum, Lenling led community engagement campaigns, including school and public programs, that brought thousands of visitors to the museum.
‘Bringing the U.S. presidency and American history to life’
“I’m honored to join the George W. Bush Presidential Center,” Lenling said in a statement. “Dallas has such a vibrant landscape of cultural institutions and museums, and the Bush Museum serves as a unique piece to that puzzle by bringing the U.S. presidency and American history to life. I’m excited to join my new colleagues in working to further the Bush Center’s nonpartisan mission.”
From 2020 to 2021, Lenling led Dallas-based nonprofit Hope Cottage,as CEO.
Before the Perot Museum, Lenling was programs manager and coordinator and later the director of public engagement for the science center of Iowa from 2003 to 2010.
The Bush Presidential Center said that under Lenling’s leadership, the museum will continue to showcase the values of freedom, opportunity, accountability, and compassion through a permanent exhibit that takes visitors through President Bush and former First Lady Laura Bush’s time in office and a yearly special exhibit.
The Bush Presidential Center stated that under the leadership of former First Lady Laura Bush, the museum will continue to highlight the values of freedom, opportunity, accountability, and compassion through its permanent exhibit, which takes visitors on a journey through President and Mrs. Bush’s time in office, as well as through a yearly special exhibit.
The current special exhibit, Freedom Matters, is open through Dec. 31 and uses rare historical artifacts, interactive activities, and personal perspectives to examine the concept of freedom.
Located on the SMU campus in Dallas, the George W. Bush Presidential Center is a nonpartisan institution that comprises the George W. Bush Presidential Museum and the George W. Bush Institute, a solution-oriented policy organization focused on ensuring opportunity for all, strengthening democracy, and advancing free societies through policy solutions and public engagement.
The center also houses the George W. Bush Presidential Library, operated by the National Archives and Records Administration, which provides access to official documents and artifacts from the George W. Bush Administration.
Get on the list.
Dallas Innovates, every day.
Sign up to keep your eye on what’s new and next in Dallas-Fort Worth, every day.
R E A D N E X T
-
In this week’s roundup of hires, promotions, and accolades in North Texas, you’ll also find news from DHD Films, Briggs Freeman Sotheby's International Realty, M2G Ventures, UT Dallas, the Dallas Museum of Art, MOOYAH, Successive Technologies, CG Infinity, and more.
-
Slated to be built in Fort Worth's Historic Southside neighborhood, the planned $70 million museum will get the city funding once the balance for the project has been raised. Designed by the New York office of Denmark-based Bjarke Ingels Group, the building will house the museum on its second level, with a business incubator, restaurant, 250-seat amphitheater, and storefronts at ground level. “Literally and figuratively, it was designed to be a beacon of light in an area that has been dark for a very long time,” says Jarred Howard, principal of the project's developer.
-
The Centanni Lab at TCU has received a $10,000 grant from the GRAMMY Museum for a study exploring connections between musical instruction and brain improvements that might help with dyslexia. "We've found in the last few years that there may be some overlap here—a really interesting way of using our knowledge about musical training to learn some more about what's happening in the brain in individuals that have dyslexia," Dr. Tracy Centanni told Dallas Innovates.
-
The Dallas Museum of Art is planning a major $150-$175 million expansion that will add flexible gallery spaces, reorganized entrances and circulation, and a reapportioned interior. But first all that needs to be designed. So the DMA has launched a Reimagining the Dallas Museum of Art International Design Competition. “This is a pivotal moment for the DMA," says its director, Dr. Agustín Arteaga.
-
With a five-year, $11.3 million grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, researchers at UT Dallas' new Human Nociceptor and Spinal Cord Molecular Signature Center are digging into the causes of chronic pain and new ways to treat it. The center's leader, Dr. Ted Price, says the data generated "will fundamentally change the way that we think about pain and how we develop therapeutics."
