Joseph Rosa

Last week, Joseph Rosa — chief curator of architecture and design at the Art Institute of Chicago Museum — was announced to be the new director of the University of Michigan Museum of Art.

But what appealed to Rosa about the job?

“A lot,” said Rosa during a phone interview. “One is the university itself, with the different 
colleges, the deans and the faculty — it’s a university filled with amazing minds. And many times, small museums … don’t have a faculty like that to draw from or be part of. So to have an amazing museum of that scale, it’s one of the larger university museums in the nation, in 
the landscape of Ann Arbor and in the University of Michigan — it’s really just ideal. Because there’s so much deep thinking going on, so much 
scholarship going on.”

Rosa comes to the job, of course, after UMMA’s previous director, James Steward, oversaw the museum’s large-scale, $41.9 million expansion and renovation project, and then left to become director of the Princeton University Art Museum in January 2009.

“What I’m interested in with the museum is building on what James did, and just taking it to the next level,” said Rosa. “Building relationships within the university’s fabric is one (goal). And trying to … raise the profile of the museum beyond the region. … To become a major voice in the museum field. And with the new space that James built, it just has to happen.”

Rosa will begin working toward this vision for UMMA when he officially takes the reins in early July.

“There are a few things I’ve been thinking about, but I want to get there, set up the landscape, and see what makes 
sense in moving forward,” said Rosa. “There’s nothing broken there. It’s a wonderful staff; they’ve done an amazing job this first year of putting (UMMA) on the map and sustaining 
it in a way that I would say a lot of other places wouldn’t be able to do. They have such good, loyal commitment and talent at UMMA that I’m looking to get there as fast as I 
can so I can start collaborating with everybody to envision what vehicles will be to take us to these new levels.”

Rosa noted that his role in UMMA’s national search for a new director began last summer. 
 “It was actually a very well-organized search, and each visit built on the last, which allowed you to
 kind of grow and fall in love with Ann Arbor, and be excited about what possibilities can take place at Michigan,” Rosa said.

Of course, Rosa’s life in Ann Arbor will be markedly different from his life in Chicago, but UMMA’s new director says he’s looking forward to the change of pace.

“When you live in bigger cities, you’re operating in a big ecosystem anyway,” Rosa said. “It’s where 
you shop for food, where you do certain things, where you socialize with people you know. And I’ve lived in numerous cities before, but my wife and I are looking forward to Ann Arbor. It’s a great city for children — I have an 11
-year-old and a 2-and-a-half-year-old — and we’re looking forward to being in the city for decades and allowing them to grow up in a community that is intellectually forward-thinking, progressive, and nurturing, which is Ann Arbor.”

In addition to this, the area’s parks have played a role in getting Rosa’s family comfortable with the area. 
 “Our two-and-a-half-year-old, every day of our last visit, had to go to Burns Park to play,” Rosa said. “So we won 
him over with that. And our 11-year-old really liked the landscape — the parks, the schools we visited — so he was happy. And that made (my wife) and myself happy. So it was just a process of 
bringing my family to see what I’ve been enjoying at different scales since September.”

For now, Rosa is busy preparing his Chicago home for sale, and helping with the upcoming transition at both AIC and UMMA.

“It’s a lot,” said Rosa. “But it’s a lot of
 exciting things.”

Jenn McKee is the entertainment digital journalist for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at jennmckee@annarbor.com or 734-623-2546, and follow her on Twitter @jennmckee.