ABOUT SUSAN WESTHOFF:
Susan Westhoff is a passionate leader with over 25 years in nonprofit management, currently serving as President and CEO of the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum and Leslie Science & Nature Center.
Her journey includes transformative roles covering a range of the nonprofit sector, from world renowned performing arts institutions to long distance hiking trail coalitions, Irish dancing schools to now nature centers and museums. She has shepherded a merger, doubled the size of an organization, and built a volunteer-led team. Throughout her career, Susan has focused on building strong community connections and fostering inclusivity and transparency within her teams.
With a Bachelor of Music in Trumpet Performance from the University of Michigan, Susan combines her love for the arts and outdoors with a commitment to education and community engagement. Outside of work, she enjoys volunteering with various local organizations, reflecting her belief in the power of community.
RESOURCES:
Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum (AAHOM)
Leslie Science & Nature Center
TRANSCRIPTION:
David Fair: This is 89.1 WEMU, and welcome to the final edition of Washtenaw United for 2025. I'm David Fair, and this weekly conversation series is an exploration of equity and opportunity in our community. Today, we're going to explore a variety of ways that two magical institutions in our community are advancing that mission. And it comes in more ways than you might think. Our final guest of 2025 is Susan Westhoff. Susan is President and CEO of the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum and Leslie Science and Nature Center. A Happy early New Year to you, Susan!
Susan Westhoff: Oh, thank you! Happy early New Year to you too, David!
David Fair: Well, with all of the financial upheaval and changes in priorities and policies at the federal level, non-profit organizations almost everywhere have been struggling to find their footing. What was 2025 like for the Museum and the Nature and Science Center?
Susan Westhoff: You've captured it in a nugget! All the nonprofits I know have had a very unpredictable, volatile year. It's hard to know what the next month will bring. It's maybe the best way to put it. So, it's been an interesting year.
David Fair: To save the least. Right.
Susan Westhoff: In so many ways! We've been grateful that we don't currently rely on federal funding as part of our mainstay operations, unlike some other nonprofits in town. And that has been a helpful gift this past year.
David Fair: Well, that brings us to the idea and concept of philanthropic giving. That is changing too. And there are so many competing interests seeking community support at the same time. How are you adapting to those changes?
Susan Westhoff: In the same way, I think all nonprofits are. We're being open to what our community needs and what funders are telling us. They're prioritizing, as well as continuing to stay true to our mission of creating missions, moments of discovery for children and families, schools, community centers across Southeast Michigan. We are very grateful that we have strong community support from individuals and foundations and corporations in several counties across Southeast Michigan. But as you just said, they're all being pulled in multiple directions, and there's literally no way that philanthropy can fill the gaps from the government-funded losses.
David Fair: Well, let's talk a little bit about function and purpose of these valuable resources that you oversee. At its heart, it is science. We are now living in a world where science is constantly being called into question, where it is no longer considered fact and is often shaped into some form of malleable political expediency and purpose. How do you go about addressing it with your visitors?
Susan Westhoff: We continue to rely on the fact that science is a theory that's been proven with research and time and expertise. So, whenever there's any sort of pushback on the work that we're doing, the things that we bring to schools or to families, our team is trained in being able to lean back into the research and the people that have proven these things to be true. So, science isn't a belief or a dream, necessarily. It's something that has had a lot of people spend a lot of time on.
David Fair: And it evolves, and we are open to that as well. Our Washtenaw United conversation with Susan Westhoff continues on 89.1 WEMU. Susan is President and CEO of the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum and Leslie Science and Nature Center. The Hands-On Museum was founded as a touring exhibit back in 1978, then opened as a brick-and-mortar facility in 1982. Since we mentioned evolution, how would you characterize the evolution since then?
Susan Westhoff: Oh, my goodness! It's funny you're asking because I just interviewed Cynthia Yao, who was the founding executive director, a few weeks back and talking with her about the original vision you just described and how the community really came together to make the initial museum happen in the old firehouse, just on one level and then expanded to two levels and expanded to a new building, then obviously expanded with the merger with the Leslie Science and Nature Center. I think the evolution, from my seat, at least at this point, is that we continue to work to meet the need from the community. We have increasing requests from schools for helping reinforce science concepts through experiences in our spaces and through programs. And instead of expanding our footprint downtown with more building, we're trying to expand through partnerships and through other creative ways of using resources that are needed.
David Fair: When the doors first opened at that facility in 1982, there was one staff member. There were ten volunteers. And anybody who's walked through now knows there's a lot more than that. What do the people of the Hands-On Museum mean to the experience for the kids and the people that visit?
Susan Westhoff: I always love your questions, David! They're amazing! The people are everything! The staff are the people who make our mission come to life in our space, in our programs, out in the community when we're taking programs out. Without the staff, we are truly nothing. They're incredible people!
David Fair: It was back in 2016 you mentioned that the Hands-On Museum and Leslie Science and Nature Center formerly merged. How has that merger benefited each of the institutions and all of us out here in the public?
Susan Westhoff: I love talking about the merger! So, it took a while. You know, we had a few things in between 2016 and now that were disruptive, you could say, including a pandemic. But having the two nonprofits come together into one unit actually allowed us to weather all of those bumps. We've had quite a few. But then, the nonprofits didn't have to pull into our resources. We didn't have to go into our cash in the bank as much because we had the shared resources of these two nonprofits. We had an outdoor space when we weren't allowed to be indoors. There's a lot of flexibility with having the two different sites that we have. And now that we're multiple years outside of the pandemic, we've been able to rehire staff to strengthen our team. And instead of having to hire two marketing people and two development people and two HR people, we have one that oversees both sites with united organization, so we can invest more actually in the mission and the experience of the work.
David Fair: This is 89.1 WEMU's Washtenaw United. And today, we're joined by Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum and Leslie Science and Nature Center President and CEO Susan Westhoff. And you mentioned the importance and the expansion allowed by creating partnership. The Museum and Science and Nature Center continue to expand both programs and community purpose. There are STEM programs, public health programs, and those community partnerships you mentioned continue to expand in both reach and impact. For you, what were the highlights in 2025?
Susan Westhoff: This past year, we have been exploring a couple of partnerships. One is a re-partnership with Mott Children's Hospital, something that we were doing for a decade before the pandemic. And players change, people turn over within different systems, and we're just starting to reconnect with them around programming for health and joy around medical care, which sounds like a strange thing, but it's really important, particularly for children. And we also have been exploring a partnership with Trinity Health. So, you mentioned health and human services. We're not looking to step outside of our mission, but we're looking to take the science of health and health care, the workforce development of health and health care, really seriously for children and look into the opportunities for how can we have medical play be a part of what we do? How can we have the science of the systems of the body--circulatory, respiratory, digestive--have that be something that we teach and engage around. And both of those partnerships are particularly exciting to me.
David Fair: You just mentioned the heart of the matter: kids. Our kids are flooded with information and disinformation. They're inundated with technology and the pressures of social media. They are dealing with increasing academic pressures and an abundance of homework. You said the word "play". How vital is it that we get back to teaching our children to play, to go outside and play?
Susan Westhoff: If I could, if there's one thing that could be a legacy of our organization, it would be in this time and place helping children be children. And that absolutely means leaning into play, particularly for early childhood under five. We know that they learn literally the way their bodies and systems and brains are designed is they learn through play with others. And that is a critical thing that screens take away from us to some extent. And I'm not anti-screen. But the ability to play with our hands and run around and interact with each other is something that helps children learn how to communicate, how to process emotions, it helps them understand how to move in community and respond to others who might hear things and see things differently than us. It's just so, so critical. And, frankly, it's critical for adults, too.
David Fair: Yeah, agreed! Agreed wholeheartedly! Access--that is so vitally important, and not everyone has the same ability to afford access. How do you keep social, economic and racial justice at the fore to ensure there's equal access in your offerings?
Susan Westhoff: Yes, I would say there's both. We've been working really hard on this, and there's a lot of work to do still. Both of those things being true, just from the start. Two years ago, we launched our Access for All program and started with economic access, financial access, with a food assistance program discount for the museum. So, anyone on a food systems program, like EBT or WIC, can come to the museum for $3 instead of $16. And we just work very hard to offset the cost there. We have a massive school scholarship program. Last year, we gave out over $70,000 in scholarships to schools across 11 counties in Southeast Michigan. And we continue to work to fundraise any sort of financial offsets we can make. One of my personal goals was to be able to offset birthday parties, which seems so trivial. But I feel like every child should be allowed to celebrate their birthday.
David Fair: Yeah!
Susan Westhoff: Yeah! And have fun! And not everybody has a home that they can invite people to, and I would love for us to be able to do that as the next financial access piece. Outside of finance, we do work on access in other ways. We've been upgrading our physical accessibility in both of our sites, and we have on our list of next steps looking at our visual accessibility, auditory accessibility, and language accessibility as well.
David Fair: There is so much to look forward to, and some of it is going to come our way in 2026. I'm so grateful for the conversation today, and I look forward to our next!
Susan Westhoff: Same here! I always love talking with you!
David Fair: That is Susan Westhoff. She is the President and CEO of the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum and Leslie Science and Nature Center. If you need more information, it's available to you. We'll get you linked up everywhere you want to go, just by going to WEMU.org. Washtenaw United is produced in partnership with the United Way for Southeastern Michigan, and you hear it every Monday. I'm David Fair, and I thank all of you for listening and making Washtenaw United a regular part of your week all throughout the year! We look forward to another productive and meaningful year in 2026! This is your community NPR station, 89.1 WEMU-FM Ypsilanti.
WEMU has partnered with the United Way for Southeastern Michigan to explore the people, organizations, and institutions creating opportunity and equity in our area. And, as part of this ongoing series, you’ll also hear from the people benefiting and growing from the investments being made in the areas of our community where there are gaps in available services. It is a community voice. It is 'Washtenaw United.'
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