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Kimberly Radewicz, a seven-year employee of the N.C. Division of Parks and Recreation, is the new superintendent at Eno River State Park in Durham. Radewicz succeeds Keith Nealson, who was named the division’s Chief Ranger last fall after serving as superintendent at Eno River for 10 years.

A superintendent is the chief of operations and administration at a state park or recreation area and has wide-ranging responsibilities for staffing, training, law enforcement, visitor services, natural resource protection, community outreach and environmental education.
Today marks the one-year anniversary of the official induction of Jaki Shelton Green as North Carolina’s first African American poet laureate.
Nominations are open for the North Carolina Heritage Award, the state’s highest honor for traditional artists, until Friday, May 1. Artists who are recognized within their communities as keepers of North Carolina’s living traditions may be nominated for the award. Past recipients have included musicians, craftspeople, storytellers, dancers, and practitioners of traditional occupations. The award has honored both professionally acclaimed artists and those who practice their art in family and community settings. 
The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences (NCMNS) has named Eric Dorfman as its next museum director. Currently the director of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and Powdermill Nature Reserve in Pittsburgh, he will join the museum in early 2020.

Dorfman’s appointment follows an extensive national search led by a search committee chaired by Department of Natural and Cultural Resources Chief Deputy Secretary Reid Wilson.
Celebrate the holiday season at the Governor’s Western Residence Holiday Open House, Sunday, Dec. 8, from 12-3 p.m., 45 Patton Mountain Rd, Asheville. Governor and Mrs. Cooper are expected to be at the residence to welcome guests during the event.  Reservations are not needed to attend the open house. Guests are invited to tour the residence, which has been decorated for the season. For more information, please call (828) 225-0122.  
Chapel Hill musician John Santa may call himself "an accidental bluegrass musician," but he knows the roots of the music in North Carolina.
 
Santa, who says music enriched his life in so many ways, will discuss North Carolina bluegrass history during a free program presented by the N.C. Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped Wednesday, Dec. 4, 1–2:30 p.m. at the Governor Morehead School Auditorium, Lineberry Building, 303 Ashe Ave., Raleigh. 
 
The program is free. 
 
The North Carolina Aquariums Division is proud to announce new directors at aquariums in Pine Knoll Shores and Roanoke Island. Liz Baird comes to the Pine Knoll Shores Aquarium after serving 24 years at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. She will begin her new position Sept. 2. Larry Warner, who has a 32-year career in museums and aquariums, will serve as director for the Roanoke Island location. He will begin his new position Sept. 3.
Secretary Susi Hamilton of the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources issued the following statement after learning of the death of Phil Freelon:
 
We were saddened to learn about the passing this morning of renowned architect, arts advocate and 2017 North Carolina Award winner Phil Freelon.  
N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources Secretary Susi H. Hamilton announces the appointment of Angela Thorpe as the director of the N.C. African American Heritage Commission (AAHC). Thorpe has served as acting director since September 2018.
The State Archives of North Carolina is excited to announce the establishment of an Oral History Unit within its Special Collections Section. The unit is headed by oral historian Ellen Brooks, a graduate of the Oral History Master of Arts program at Columbia University. She was previously the oral historian at the Wisconsin Veterans Museum.