The next director of the Watkins Community Museum of History will possess a graduate degree in museum studies, at least three years of museum-management experience and a proven ability to generate donations and build membership.

Then comes the actual work: Developing an endowment, expanding the museum’s store, establishing a fund for artifacts, collaborating with Kansas University’s museum studies program and countless other tasks that have been on hold for months as museum leaders have struggled with a leadership vacuum.

“You’ve got to have someone with energy and ambition to take these jobs on and follow them through,” said Phil Godwin, a retired physician who has overseen museum operations as president of the Douglas County Historical Society.

The society, which operates the museum at 1047 Mass., is accepting applications for a museum director through Dec. 15. The board intends to have someone hired by Jan. 15.

The job has been vacant for more than a year after the board demoted longtime director Steve Jansen to historian in the midst of a budget crunch. Last month the board voted to offer Jansen an opportunity to retire, which gave the society enough financial flexibility to pursue hiring a new full-time director.

The new hire will be expected to satisfy the demands of Douglas County commissioners, who have threatened to withhold all or part of the county’s annual $58,000 allocation unless the museum’s management receives a major overhaul.

With the county’s money accounting for about a third of the society’s $163,000 annual operating budget, board members have been striving to find a professional administrator for the museum.

The new director will earn $35,000 to $45,000 a year, depending on experience and qualifications, Godwin said. A search committee will winnow the list of applicants to three to five candidates, who will be interviewed by board members.

Members of the search committee:

• Philip Humphrey, committee chairman, former director of Kansas University’s Natural History Museum.
• Bob Bowline, former member of the historical society and retired human relations director for Hallmark Cards Inc. in Lawrence.
• Judy Billings, director of the Lawrence Convention and Visitors Bureau.
• John Simmons, interim director of KU’s museum studies program.