RICHMOND, VA.-Beefing up its curatorial staff to prepare for the opening of its new wing, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts has added two scholars in its collections division.

John Henry Rice is the new associate curator of South Asian and Islamic art, and Dr. Susan Jensen Rawles is VMFA’s new assistant curator of American decorative art.

“We are delighted to welcome John Henry and Susie to our curatorial staff as we prepare for a major transformation of the museum,” says VMFA Director Alex Nyerges. “They will play an integral role in readying these two important collections for their places in the expanded Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.”

A specialist in South Asian art of the medieval and early modern periods, Rice is completing his doctoral thesis at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia on the Kanara temples of India. From 1996 to 1998, he managed the Indian paintings research collection and was assistant to the director at the Sackler Gallery in Washington, D.C. He was graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., where he was a Phi Beta Kappa member, and he holds a master’s degree in art history from the University of Pennsylvania.

Rawles is a specialist in American and European decorative arts and earned a doctorate in American studies from the College of William and Mary. She has participated in Attingham Trust studies of British country houses and the British Royal Collection at Windsor Castle. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Smith College in Northampton, Mass., and an MA degree in art history from Rice University in Houston, Texas. She was previously a research associate in VMFA’s American department.

VMFA is in the midst of a massive expansion project that will add more than 165,000 square feet of space to the existing 320,000-square-foot museum. The expansion will increase the museum’s gallery space by 50 percent and is expected to cost about $130 million.

Topping out for the addition is expected in the late summer or early fall of this year. Then, construction will continue on the building’s façades and interior, leading to an opening in late 2009, museum officials say.