PRINCETON.- The Princeton University Art Museum is pleased to announce the appointment of Bryan R. Just to the position of Peter Jay Sharp, Class of 1952, Curator and Lecturer of the Art of the Ancient Americas. Just joined the Princeton University Art Museum in 2005, and in 2007 was named assistant curator of art of the ancient Americas and lecturer in the Department of Art and Archaeology.

“We are delighted to announce Bryan’s appointment," said Rebecca Sender, acting director of the art museum. "Bryan’s passion for objects and for teaching is infectious. He is committed to making Princeton's important collection better known and understood. There is no doubt he will make substantial contributions to the field.”

Just's responsibilities as assistant curator included coordinating a major documentation project of relevant holdings in the museum's collection; teaching and student advising in the Department of Art and Archaeology; contributing to exhibitions including Sorcerers of the Fifth Heaven: Ancient Nahua Art and Ritual of Southern Mexico and An Educated Eye: Princeton University Art Museum Collections; acquiring new works for the collection; and presenting gallery talks and workshops. A contributor to the Princeton University Art Museum's Handbook of the Collections, published in 2007, he is currently serving as project coordinator for the major exhibition Gifts from the Ancestors: Ancient Ivories of Bering Strait, scheduled to open in fall 2009 at the art museum.

“I consider it a great privilege to hold this position," said Just. "Princeton offers an amazing array of opportunities for research in ancient American art and culture, spanning not only the art museum’s premier collections, but important holdings of indigenous colonial documents and related materials at Firestone Library and impressive ethnographic collections belonging to the Geosciences department.”

Just received a B.A. in Archaeological Studies and the History of Art from Yale University and an M.A. in Art History and a Ph.D. in Art History and Linguistics, both from Tulane University. His research focuses on the comparative study of textual and image-based communication, the use of style to reference 'others,' ancient and contemporary Maya textile traditions, the history of collecting ancient American objects, and the history and epistemology of Pre-Columbian scholarship. Just has worked for several major art museums including the Yale University Art Gallery, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art, and the Walters Art Museum. He has also taught Tulane University.

Established in 1984, the Peter Jay Sharp Foundation funds programs in arts and education. Sharp, a 1952 alumnus of Princeton University, was a real estate developer and hotelier as well as a member of the Princeton University Art Museum's advisory council from 1987 until his death in 1992.