The Kansas Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, Kan., has come a long way since Patty Carey first set up a star projector in a poultry barn. Now, that journey continues under the museum’s second Wichita State-educated chief executive.
In late July, two months after Max Ary ’72 stepped down, the Cosmosphere appointed Jeff Ollenburger ’96 president and chief executive. “The first thing I did was take a deep breath,” says Ollenburger, laughing.
His predecessor is a tough act to follow. Ary had been with the Cosmosphere project since the late 1960s, when it was housed in a building on the grounds of Hutchinson Community College.
After a short stint as director of Noble Planetarium in Fort Worth, Texas, he returned to the planetarium to help plan for a new facility, which opened in 1980. Over the next 20 years, he was instrumental in creating a world-class space museum that attracts nearly 300,000 visitors a year.
Today’s Cosmosphere has, among other offerings, an Omnimax Theater, Space Camp programs for children and adults, plus the largest collection of Russian space program artifacts in the western world.
Ary also created Space Works, a construction crew that both restores space artifacts — often found rotting in government warehouses — and replicates them for Hollywood. The team played a huge role in Ron Howard’s award-winning Apollo 13, carefully creating modules and space suits that were both realistic and dramatically workable. Ary is moving on to direct the Omniplex in Oklahoma City, Okla.
But Ollenburger’s not worried about filling Ary’s moon boots. “Max has been a tremendous mentor and friend to me,” he says. His plans for the future are to keep a steady course: “We want to continue to expand what we’re doing, the services we offer, the education programming for the general public, rotating exhibits. We have a tremendous staff, great history, lots of community involvement — all the pieces are there to continue the success story.”
Before earning a master’s degree in communication from WSU, Ollenburger, who is originally from Hesston, Kan., received his undergraduate degree from Bethany College. He began work at the Cosmosphere in 1996, drawn to the museum by “the opportunity to get involved in subject matter I always had a lot of interest in — space and 20th-century history.”
Starting as marketing coordinator, he held seven positions in as many years, including director of community relations, vice president of marketing and, most recently, senior vice president.
In addition to his experience at the Cosmosphere, he has worked with space, aviation and tourism committees from the local to the national level. He is an advisory member of the national nasa/Space Biology Museum Network, an executive committee member of the NASA/Kansas Space Grant Consortium and chairman of the Kansas Aviation Tourism Alliance.
Ollenburger’s message to the public: “If you haven’t been here in a while, come back! We’re always ready to listen to people’s ideas and thoughts about what the Cosmosphere should be.” For information about current displays and events at the Kansas Cosmosphere, call (800) 397-0330, or visit online at www.cosmo.org.
— Anna Perleberg
