STORRS, CONN.- Nancy Stula, who has led the Lyman Allyn Art Museum in New London since 2008, has been named the executive director of the William Benton Museum of Art, effective July 1.

Stula was named executive director and curator of Lyman Allyn in 2009 after serving as interim director for a year. She previously spent six years as curator and deputy director at the museum.

“I am very much looking forward to my arrival and working with the staff and collections at the William Benton Museum of Art. The Benton’s permanent collection is very strong in early Modernism, especially their holdings of works by Reginald Marsh and the Ashcan School, as well as their extensive collection of works on paper, and I am excited about the possibilities for exhibitions,” Stula says. “I am eager to begin to work with University of Connecticut’s faculty, staff, and students on collaborative exhibitions and programs at the Benton Museum.”

Before her tenure at the Lyman Allyn, Stula worked as a research assistant in the Department of American Paintings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1991-1994) and taught in the Art History department at the University of Hartford (1994-2003), where she earned her bachelor’s degree summa cum laude in art history and studio art in 1985. She holds a Ph.D. in Art History from Columbia University.

“With Nancy’s fantastic experience and expertise in the arts, we look forward to a new and exciting era for the Benton Museum at the University of Connecticut,” says Brid Grant, dean of the School of Fine Arts.

At the Lyman Allyn, Stula curated several exhibitions including “The Transcendental Landscapes of Christopher Pearse Cranch (1813-1892); “femme brut(e);” “Curtain Up: Broadway Behind the Scenes;” and, most recently, “Mentoring Courtney Love.”

She is the author of At Home and Abroad: The Transcendental Landscapes of Christopher Pearse Cranch (University Press of New England) as well as numerous articles in the field of nineteenth century American art in such publications as “ARTES Magazine,” “American Art Review” and “Fine Art Connoisseur.”

Stula is a former trustee of the Hartford Art School and has served on the Connecticut Artists Collection Advisory Committee of the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism. She currently serves on the Board of the Connecticut Arts Alliance. She recently received the 2013 University of Hartford Distinguished Alumni Award, which is presented annually to a graduate who has made an exceptional impact on her/his profession, community, and the University.