FAIRBANKS — Wanda Chin, longtime exhibit designer at the University of Alaska Museum of the North, will be retiring at the end of the month after 30 years on the museum staff.

Chin began her association with the museum in 1978, as a consultant helping to design and develop the exhibits in the museum’s old building, which opened on the upper campus in 1980. She joined the staff full-time in 1979.

Museum Director Carol Diebel said Chin’s work leaves a lasting impact on the museum.

“I have been so impressed by her philosophical approach to exhibitions and her deeply embedded commitment to cross-cultural collaborations, innovative design and inspiring the diversity of our museum visitors,” Diebel said.

Chin was instrumental in the design and installation of the Rose Berry Alaska Art Gallery, the centerpiece of the museum’s new wing and a gallery that has been called “a model for 21st century art and anthropological museums.”

In the past three decades, Chin has designed more than 30 special exhibits on a wide range of subjects involving artists, scientists and community collaborators.

Among them were exhibits on the internment of Aleuts and Alaska’s Japanese Americans during World War II, women of the Gold Rush, the African-American experience building the Alaska Highway and the art of Denali National Park and Preserve, now on display.

In addition, Chin has worked with museums across the state, collaborating and training and acting as an adviser on projects such as the People of Whaling exhibit at the Inupiat Heritage Center in Barrow, and designing award-winning publications.

An artist in her own right, Chin has several public commissions in Tok, Fairbanks and Anchorage.

Chin is a 2009 recipient of the Governor’s Award for the Arts in the arts and advocacy category for her leadership and commitment to the arts and museums.

Later this month, Chin and her husband, Terry Dickey, will be joint recipients of the Western Museum’s Association’s Directors Chair Award for their contributions to the museum profession. Dickey retired in 2007 after 31 years at the museum.

A retirement celebration and potluck dinner is planned for Nov. 3 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the museum. Community members who worked with Chin during her museum career are invited to bring a beverage or dish-to-share and attend. To RSVP and for more information, call 474-6939.

Contact the newsroom at 459-7572.