Field Museum president retires

The man who brought us Sue the T. rex is resigning as president and CEO of the Field Museum. John McCarter, 73, has served the museum since 1996.

McCarter helped usher the museum into the internet era, creating 12 (whoa, yes, 12) modern permanent exhibitions, building a 3-D theater and spearheading digital programs for school children. A press release from the museum names McCarter's accomplishments (all of which are too lengthy to mention in this blog post); they include adding more than four million specimens to the collections, building the spectacular 180,000-square-foot Collections Resource Center, and raising a whole lot of money.

Some folks might remember him for taking away the museum's Wednesday free day. (This, of course, bothers me to no end.) I'll most remember McCarter for his strong stance behind teaching evolution in school.

The Field Museum announced it has hired an executive search firm to help find its next leader.