Staff additions, changes made at Marshals Museum

Barbara Harvel is the new director of development for the U.S. Marshals Museum, with former Museum Project Director Sandi Sanders moving to support efforts related to the national and local fundraising campaign.

Harvel, the wife of Fort Smith Regional Chamber of Commerce President Paul Harvel, has an “extensive list of relevant experience and is known throughout the state,” according to a statement from Museum Project Director Jim Dunn.

Barbara established the Arkansas Quality Awards program and served as its executive director for 12 years. In that role she worked with a large board of directors and raised money each year for operating expenses and the annual awards. Most recently, Barbara was the director of Career and Corporate Development at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia.

In January 2007, the U.S. Marshals Service selected Fort Smith as the site for the national museum. The U.S. Marshals Museum board of directors and staff are underway with what will be a $30 million to $50 million national fundraising effort. The roughly 50,000-square-foot museum will be built in downtown Fort Smith next to the Arkansas River.

Robert A. Young III, chairman of the U.S. Marshals Museum Foundation Board of Directors and chairman of Fort Smith-based Arkansas Best Corp., has named Sanders as vice chair of the Foundation Board, where she will work with with Young, Dunn and Barbara Harvel on the national capital campaign. 

Sanders joined the museum effort in April 2007, serving as a volunteer project director for many months until the planning effort received local and state financial support. Prior to April 2007, Sanders served as interim chancellor of the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith between October 2005 and June 2006. Prior that, she served as an administrator at the college since 1979, including several years as senior vice chancellor.

“Dr. Sanders established the organizational framework for the Museum, built an outstanding Board of Directors and Foundation Board, oversaw the design of the exhibit master plan and initial building plan, and began the national capital campaign,” Dunn noted in the statement. “She served full time as a nonpaid director for the first nine months of the work, and her obvious commitment to the Museum will continue.”

Sanders issued this statement: “Thanks to the staff, an outstanding Board of Directors, and a supportive community, the plans for all aspects of the Museum are complete. My work with the Museum has been a great experience and a privilege, and I look forward to continuing to work with the Museum Foundation to secure funding. This role will provide the flexibility and additional personal time I need as well as provide an outstanding professional in Barbara Harvel for the Museum. We have an impressive professional staff that will ensure that the Museum becomes a reality.”