Thomas W Lentz takes up his responsibilities on 15 November as the new director of the Harvard University Art Museums (HUAM).

Lentz is moving from the Smithsonian Institution, where he has held the post of director of international museums. This will be seen as a homecoming for Lentz, who earned his doctorate in fine arts at Harvard.

Lentz said he was “honoured and excited” by his post at HUAM, which encompasses the Fogg Art Museum, the Busch-Reisinger Museum and the Arthur M Sackler Museums.

He added: “My goal is to ensure that Harvard’s art museums not only remain vital to the University, the community and the field, but that they continue to play a leading role in museum thinking and practice.”

Lentz succeeds James Cuno, who moved to the Courtauld Institute in London last December. Since January 2003, Marjorie B Cohn has served as acting director for HUAM.