We had some WONDERFUL members review proposals for this year’s conference-check them out!
Juliette Bianco joined the Weatherspoon Art Museum staff in September 2020. As museum director, Juliette sets the strategic, collaborative, and academic leadership and vision for the museum as a core learning resource for the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and the community. Prior to arriving at UNCG, she served for 25 years at the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College. Juliette’s scholarly interests focus on transformational leadership in higher education, and on university museums as hubs of innovative teaching and learning; creative partnerships; and the benefits of a diverse and inclusive museum community. She has curated and co-curated numerous exhibitions and has published on art and museum practice. She is a graduate of Dartmouth and holds a master’s degree from the University of Chicago and an EdD from Northeastern University. Juliette received a 2019 New England Museum Association (NEMA) Excellence Award and is a member of the Board of the Association of Academic Museums and Galleries (AAMG). From the WAM Staff Directory.
Donna Brown was born and raised in the suburbs of Sydney, Australia. She has BS and PhD degrees in Textile Technology/Textile Chemistry with an emphasis in Wool Science from The University of New South Wales in Australia. She moved to Laramie Wyoming to accept a faculty/extension specialist position at the University of Wyoming in 1987. Donna served in multiple administrative roles at UW. Her scholarship in the area of wearable art design has won national and international competitions. She retired from the University of Wyoming as a tenured Professor in 2018 before moving to Utah State University where she works at the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art as the Artist/Scholar in Residence and Head of Academic Initiatives and also as a Professional Practice Professor teaching in the Family and Consumer Sciences Education and Outdoor Products Design and Development programs.
Over a span of more than 30 years, Dr. Schroeder Cherry has worked in seven U.S. museums, including The Art Institute of Chicago; Smithsonian Institution’s Anacostia Museum; Studio Museum in Harlem; J. Paul Getty Museum; The Baltimore Museum of Art; and Maryland Historical Society. He has held senior grant maker positions at Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Foundation, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, first as Deputy Director of Museums, and later Counselor to the Director. Cherry earned a bachelor of fine arts degree in painting and puppetry from The University of Michigan; a master’s degree in museum education from The George Washington University; and a doctorate in museum education from Columbia University. As an artist and puppeteer, Cherry has exhibited and performed in museums and other cultural organizations across the U.S. He taught graduate museum studies at Morgan State University prior to his 2021 appointment as Curator of the James E Lewis Museum of Art.
Emily Conner has served in the museum field since 2014, and recently joined the staff at the University of Wyoming Art Museum as the Master Teacher. Her prior experience includes teaching both elementary and middle school art, and working with The American Visionary Art Museum, Charm City Cakes, and The Bethel Woods Center for the Arts. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in K-12 Art Education from Shepherd University and a Master’s Degree in Museum Studies from the Cooperstown Graduate Program.
For the past 10 years, Adina Duke has activated art in the museum context through education and interpretive programs for diverse community audiences. She is the Associate Director for Public Engagement at KU’s Spencer Museum of Art, where she co-creates programs, events, and interpretive materials; leads the visitor experience program; and guides various community initiatives. Prior to joining the Spencer, she held positions in both education and collections management at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, MO, and served as director of special exhibitions at Holocaust Museum Houston. Adina’s life in museums began with a student internship at Austin’s Umlauf Sculpture Garden and Museum where she led programs for young people with disabilities.
Sandra Q. Firmin is the director of the CU Art Museum. She thrives on collaboration in fashioning programs that create a sense of community and energize the academic and social missions of CU Boulder. Sandra oversees the biennial Artist-in-Residence Program that invites artists to create new work in collaboration with campus and external communities. Residents have included Millie Chen, Janelle Iglesias and Mary Mattingly. Her recent contemporary exhibitions have addressed a range of issues from human interaction with our surroundings to cultural belonging and identity to the mystical and sublime in art.
Sandra has organized critically-acclaimed contemporary art exhibitions. At her previous position at the University at Buffalo, she co-curated the traveling exhibition Kim Jones: A Retrospective (with Julie Joyce), accompanied by the catalogue “Mudman: The Odyssey of Kim Jones” (MIT Press, 2006). In 2010, Sandra organized Artpark: 1974–1984, an exhibition and publication (Princeton Architectural Press, 2010) chronicling the seminal years of an innovative residency program located in Lewiston, New York.
In her tenure at the CU Art Museum, Sandra led a campaign to acquire the Sharkive, an internationally important collection of contemporary prints and related materials created in the studio of Bud and Barbara Shark. Artists include Enrique Chagoya, Red Grooms, Hung Liu and Betty Woodman, among others.
Sandra is currently a Board Member and the Mountain Plains Regional Representative of the Association of Academic Museum and Galleries. She holds a master’s degree from Bard College’s Center for Curatorial Studies and has served as a trustee on the board of the Association of Art Museum Curators.
Sarita Talusani Keller is the Ann Simpson Artmobile Educator at the University of Wyoming Art Museum, serving communities throughout Wyoming. Keller holds an M.Ed. in Art Education from the University of Houston and Ph.D. from the University of North Texas, with an emphasis on community arts. Her experience includes K-8 art teacher, work at various arts institutions such as Dallas Contemporary, Blaffer Art Museum, and Project Row Houses, as well as teaching “Art in Elementary Schools” at the University of Houston and “Methods 2: Creative and Artistic Growth” for University of Wyoming’s Visual Arts Department. Keller is a former Marcus Fellow, Nancy Berry Museum Education Scholarship recipient, and has published in Marilyn Zurmuehlen Working Papers in Art Education.
Jessica Kinsey is the director of the Southern Utah Museum of Art at Southern Utah University. As the museum director, Kinsey provides leadership and vision for SUMA as an experiential learning environment with a balanced commitment to education and community.
Her education and professional experience has given Kinsey expertise in the creation, reception and institutionalization of the visual arts, from the most ancient to the most contemporary. Kinsey is well-versed in museum management procedures, exhibit and educational programming and community interaction. In November 2016, Kinsey was a Forty Under 40 recipient, an award honoring exceptional individuals who have made a significant contribution to shaping the Oklahoma City landscape.
Kinsey earned a bachelor’s in art history and a master’s in museum studies from the University of Oklahoma. Starting as a part-time student employee, Kinsey worked at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art and moved up the ranks to become the museum’s Director of Public Engagement. She began her SUU career in July 2017.
Erika Kvam is the Interim Director & Head Curator at Purdue Galleries (Purdue University) in West Lafayette, IN. She graduated with a BA (dual major) in History & Classical Studies from Indiana University, and completed her MA at the University of Manchester in Art Gallery & Museum Studies. Erika also serves on the board of AAM’s Committee on Audience Research & Evaluation and as the vice president of the board for the Tippecanoe County Historical Association.
Purdue Galleries currently consists of two gallery spaces: the Robert L. Ringel Gallery in Stewart Center and the Patti & Rusty Rueff Galleries in Pao Hall. In addition to these exhibition spaces, Purdue Galleries also has a permanent collection of over 5,500 artworks, which has recently been rehoused in a larger & greatly improved facility. Purdue Galleries is currently pursuing accreditation with AAM.
Katie Lee-Koven serves on the AAMG board supporting the initiatives of regional and state representatives. In this role she ensures that regional and state representatives have a voice and are provided the information and resources necessary to succeed at their respective academic institutions. At Utah State University, LeeKoven serves as Executive Director and Chief Curator for the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, which has a collection of over 5,000 objects focused on 20th and 21st century American art with an emphasis on art in the western United States. She is passionate about making NEHMA a resource to every college, department and major at USU, making the art museum an integral part of all student’s higher education
Dr. Natalie R. Marsh has worked for over thirty years in the arts, serving as the founding director and chief curator of multiple exhibition and museum programs at colleges and universities, including Kenyon College’s Gund Gallery (2010-2020), the Denison University Museum (2007-2010), and Columbus College of Art & Design’s Beeler Gallery (2001-2006), in addition to numerous additional positions with other public and private academic museums, commercial galleries, historical collection and house museums and contemporary arts centers.
For the past six years, Natalie has been very active in the Association of Academic Museums and Galleries (AAMG), for which she currently serves as the Secretary and Chair of the Governance Committee.
Nils Nadeau is the associate director, external relations and operations, at the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth. Nils works with the museum’s director and senior staff on long-range institutional initiatives, including strategic planning, museum identity/branding, and the expansion and renovation of the building. He also manages an external relations area that has encompassed publishing, the digital museum, noncurricular campus engagement, events, public relations and marketing, and visitor services, as well as digital and printed content. He is further responsible for the day-to-day well-functioning of the museum, including ongoing security and building concerns. Nils graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in music in 1989 and completed an M.A. and Ph.D. in medieval studies at Cornell University in 1995 and 1998, respectively. He started at the Hood Museum of Art in 2000 as a part-time editor.
Monica M. Scott is an educator, curator, and administrator with over 15 years of experience in museums. She specializes in programming, gallery learning, audience development, and community engagement. She has special interest in critical museum theory, how people experience museums, visual and performing arts, and the African diaspora. Currently, Monica serves as Public Education and Volunteers Coordinator at the Spurlock Museum of World Cultures at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. In this position she manages volunteer onboarding, gallery guide training, public programs for adult and university audiences, and learning and engagement initiatives.
Michelle Sunset (she/her) is a curator at the University of Wyoming Art Museum where she has been for two years, and currently serves as AAMG’s Wyoming state representative. She holds two MAs in visitor-centered curation and museum and cultural heritage studies from Florida State University. She previously served as the exhibits manager at the Florida Historic Capitol Museum in Tallahassee for four years, and as a curatorial assistant at Vizcaya Museum and Gardens in Miami for two years. Her curatorial work is driven by the principles of learning theory, collaboration, and social justice.
Dr. Beth A. Zinsli has been Curator of the Wriston Art Galleries and Assistant Professor of Art History at Lawrence University since 2013. Her areas of research and teaching include the history of photography, museum studies, and contemporary art history. She recently received a NEH Preservation Assistance Grant for Smaller Institutions for a conservation assessment of Lawrence’s Teakwood Room and an M.C. Lang Fellowship in Book History, Bibliography, and Humanities Teaching with Historical Sources from Rare Book School.