Rodek Award Acceptance Speech:
By Peter B.Tirrell

Jay, thank you very much for all those kind words. This is a great honor and I deeply appreciate it. Allow me to thank the Rodeck Committee for their work and Michael Mares, Claudia Berg and Georgi Contigugulia who nominated me for this award. I also want to thank my staff, represented here by Holly Hughes and Hadley Jerman, and my students, represented here by Cali Martin. Thank you to so many friends: David Lintz, Rick Stryker, Jan Postler and so many more…

And Sally, my wife!

I’d like to say thanks to the MPMA and its members. Bear with me…

This was popular folk song when I joined the MPMA.

(sung)
It’s a long a dusty road,
And the folks you meet ain’t always kind,
Some are bad and some are good,
And some have done the best they could,
And some have tried to ease my troublin’ mind,
And I can’t help but wonder where I’m bound, were I’m bound
No, I can’t help but wonder where I’m bound.

Sometimes, I still don’t know where I’m bound, But I know one thing, and that is that I wouldn’t be here today receiving this award if it weren’t for MPMA and its members who let me join them, let me be a museum maverick, gave me direction, helped me become a professional, and nurtured my soul. Forgive me, MPMA, for stealing, I mean borrowing, all your good ideas and practices so that I have to do things like MAPs, accreditation reviews, and spread those idea and practices around the world. I went to the Whale Museum in Washington, I worked with the Ojibwe nation in Michigan, I saw the aquariums in Fritch, Texas, and I worked with professionals in Sweden and Albania and China and Portugal and other places.

My advice: be a maverick! Be sure to join the MPMA! You won’t regret it. A big applause, please, not for me, but MPMA and you, the members – Thank you!!!