AMANDA DUNYAK GILLEN, FRICK PITTSBURGH INTERIM DIRECTOR | PHOTO: THE FRICK PITTSBURGH, SETH CULP-RESSLER

[Updated April 9, 2025: The Frick Pittsburgh Board of Trustees announced that after a four-month national search, they have named Amanda Dunyak Gillen — who has been serving as interim head — as their permanent executive director, effective immediately.]

The Frick Pittsburgh has selected one of its own to oversee operations as interim director.

The board of trustees has appointed Amanda Dunyak Gillen, who has served in various capacities at the Point Breeze institution for 20 years, most recently as director of Learning & Visitor Experience. She replaces Elizabeth “Lizzie” Barker, director since 2017, who departed earlier this fall.

At the time, the board of trustees had assembled a national search committee to seek a replacement.

“As we look to chart an exciting course forward for the Frick, we’ve determined the museum will be best served by appointing an Interim Executive Director who can fully empower our talented team of department heads to accelerate our progress without missing a beat — someone who knows the Frick well and can have an immediate impact,” Bob Hernandez, chair of the Board of Trustees, said in a statement. “Amanda has earned the enthusiastic support of the Board of Trustees and our department heads as well as the respect of the museum’s extraordinary staff.”

In addition to overseeing the museum’s adult, student and family programs, Gillen has created initiatives under the Frick’s Strategic Plan and supported the recent reinterpretation “Gilded, Not Golden” tour and project at Clayton that has won an Award of Excellence from the American Association for State and Local History.

She also had a role in the design of the Frick’s $15 million expansion that created the Grable Visitor’s Center, a renovated Car & Carriage Museum, collections storage and a new Education Center.

In addition, the Mt. Lebanon resident teaches museum education and public programming, as well as the introduction to public history, as an adjunct professor at Duquesne University. Gillen also has been serving as president of the Historical Society of Mount Lebanon.

The Frick Pittsburgh is a collection of museums and other buildings focused on the 19th century life and home of Pittsburgh industrialist Henry Clay Frick and his family, art collection and other exhibits.