July 2005

In May of 2003, Melissa Smith Levine returned home to Miami, Florida to become the Associate Director of Finance and Administration at the Wolfsonian Museum on Miami Beach where she is responsible for the oversight of all aspects of the art museum's operations. Prior to the Wolfsonian, Melissa had spent the last year and a half as the Visiting Manager and Curator for the World Bank Art Program in Washington, D.C.

Today a successful museum administrator, Melissa describes her first degree as a pursuit of her passion and her second degree as the acquisition of marketable, hard skills. Melissa graduated cum laude from Emory University with a degree in art history. During college she worked at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta and the Emory University Museum. Following the completion of her bachelor's degree, Melissa started law school at UM where she was an editor for the Entertainment and Sports Law Review.

After graduating from law school in 1989, Melissa moved to Washington, D.C. at a time when there was a demand from the art world for administrators with legal skills. Melissa's business skills and understanding of the substantive side of art were exactly what the museums were looking for and Melissa spent the next thirteen years working for Washington's largest art and cultural institutions. In addition to her work at the World Bank, Melissa worked for the Library of Congress (1996-2001) and the Smithsonian Institution (1990-1996). CD-ROMs and the internet were coming into existence during this period and the majority of her work dealt with intellectual property issues such as copyright, trademarks, product development and licensing, and contract negotiation. Melissa's experience with the legal issues affecting the art community places her ahead of the curve and as a result she has been a frequent lecturer at professional conferences and has published several journal articles.

A lifelong Hurricane, Melissa's parents and brother graduated from the University of Miami and she is married to Glenn Levine, who is also a graduate of the Class of 1989. "Glenn and I are thrilled to be back in Miami with our family. The city has changed a lot since we graduated, but there is a creative energy that makes Miami special and we wanted to be part of it."