Learn More About Your Colleagues Who Served as Proposal Reviewers
Jessica Ambler (she/her) is the Director of the Martin Art Gallery at Muhlenberg College. She has her Ph.D. in art history from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and over a decade of experience in the art world including work in a museum, auction house, and numerous universities. She was Head of Research for Sandy Heller at The Heller Group, an art advisory in New York City specializing in modern and contemporary art, and Curator + Artist Relations for Loupe, Inc. an art streaming platform. She is a qualified appraiser and an Accredited Member of the Appraisers Association of America. She is also a mayoral-appointed member of the Allentown Arts Commission, on the Advisory Council for the Lehigh Valley Arts and Cultural Alliance, an Executive Committee member of the Museum and Library Alliance of the Lehigh Valley, and serves on the Communications Committee for the Association of Academic Museums and Galleries.
Ethan Aronson (he/him) is the Manager of Visitor Experience at the University of New Mexico Art Museum (UNMAM), in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Ethan has been a member of the UNM museum community for over two years and moved to the Art Museum in November of 2023 after serving as the Store Manager of the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology. At UNMAM, Ethan serves as a knowledgeable and welcoming representative of the museum, while leading the Museum Assistant team in the daily operations. Ethan has over nine years of museum and visitor services experience, having previously worked at the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History and Casa San Ysidro: The Gutierrez/Minge House. He also co-founded and served as Director of Guest Experience for Modern Albuquerque LLC. He is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in History with a minor in Museum Studies at the University of New Mexico.
Susan Baley (she/her) is the Director of the Grinnell College Museum of Art in Grinnell, Iowa where she also teaches museum studies. She has been committed to expanding access to art and visual culture for more than 30 years. Susan led a museum education department and taught art history and museum studies at the University of Oklahoma for 25 years before moving into museum administration in 2015. She directed an American art museum in Terre Haute, Indiana, and a nonprofit community art organization dedicated to contemporary craft in Tulsa, Oklahoma prior to moving to Grinnell in January 2022.
Nikki Fragala Barnes (she / they) is a critical curator and scholar of texts and technology. Barnes serves as the inaugural DEIB Bradley-Otis Fellow at the Rollins Museum of Art. Barnes’ work, collaborative and participatory, centers on restorative research and critical making applied to media, culture, and society. An installation artist and experimental poet, Barnes is also an instructor of Creative Writing at the University of Central Florida. Barnes’ scholarship appears in the Journal of Multimodal Rhetorics and Surface Design Journal. Recent works were exhibited at AAMG and The Pratt Institute. Barnes serves on the editorial collective with the Journal of Interactive Technology and Pedagogy. New literary works appear in Of Poets and Poetry. Their creative practice and research are site-sensitive, emphasizing labor and consent, critically reframing power and hierarchies. Barnes serves as an Ethics Ambassador with UCF’s Center for Ethics, which works to integrate ethics within all areas of research. (@bynikkibarnes)
Annie Booth (she/her) is the Curatorial Assistant and Visitor Engagement Coordinator at the FSU Museum of Fine Arts and a graduate of Florida State University with an MA in Museum and Cultural Heritage Studies. She assists with curatorial research and exhibition planning, recently co-curating A Shared Body, Boundless Terrain, and Intertwined: Labor and Technology in Contemporary Textile Art at MoFA. She co-authored a chapter in “Dimensions of Curation: Considering Competing Values for Intentional Exhibition Practices,” published in 2023, and has presented research at the Native American Art Studies Association conference.
Ash Boydston-Schmidt (she/her) is the NAGPRA Coordinator for the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology at the University of New Mexico. She is Apsáalooke, a descendant of the Crow Tribe of Montana. She received a BA in Anthropology and a BA in Native American Studies from the University of Oklahoma. She recently completed her MA in Museum Studies and MSL in Law Studies at the University of New Mexico. In her areas of study, Ash concentrated in historic preservation and cultural protection laws such as NAGPRA, ARPA, NEPA, and other similar laws. For her master’s work, she created a contextual history of the NAGPRA work done with Chaco Culture National Historical Park to be used as a resource for tribal descendants of Chaco and institutions holding Chaco materials. Ash also serves on the New Mexico Association of Museums board as the Emerging Professionals Representative.
Raechel Kaleki Cook (she/her) is a dot connector, experience constructor, and Associate Curator of Academic Programming at the Weatherspoon Art Museum at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG). She believes the arts are integral to a complete education and she works with UNCG faculty, staff, and students from all academic disciplines to facilitate meaningful art encounters with the Weatherspoon’s collection. Most recently, Raechel served as the Curator of Academic Engagement at the University of Wyoming (UW) Art Museum in Laramie, WY. Before arriving at UW, she managed several undergraduate certificate programs at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas. Raechel graduated magna cum laude with a BA in Art & Design from the University of Northern Colorado and received her MFA in Visual Art from the University of Kansas. Her research explores textiles, collecting, our relationship with everyday objects, and how objects acquire meaning.
Liz Crooks (she/her) is the Director of the Pentacrest Museums at the University of Iowa. Crooks holds an MA in Museum Studies and a Graduate Certificate in Book Arts. Born & raised in Iowa City, Crooks developed a passion for museums while visiting the museums she now oversees. She has served on numerous campus advisory committees, including the Museum Studies Certificate Program. Her interests include non-profit administration, museology, and interdisciplinary graduate education. Outside of those interests, Crooks can be found visiting other museums, attending music festivals, rowing, or talking about rowing.
Kimberly Musial Datchuk (she/her) has a PhD in art history with a specialty in nineteenth-century European art. As the Curator of Learning and Engagement at the University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art, she connects the museum to the public and UI campus through teaching, research, and programming. At the Stanley, she has curated several exhibitions that center the work of women and the struggle for social justice. Her research and curatorial interests include institutional critique and the intersection of art, gender, sexuality, and technology, particularly in fin-de-siècle France. She has presented her research throughout the United States, as well as France, England, and Poland.
Devin E. Geraci (she/her) is the Associate Director of Operations at the University of New Mexico Art Museum, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She received her BS in Anthropology from Florida State University and completed her MBA and MA in Museum Studies at the University of New Mexico. Her studies established a unique academic concentration that blends organizational behavior concepts into museum work, with a particular focus on employee motivation, job design, and leadership development. Devin has an extensive and broad background in a variety of museums and types of roles. She particularly enjoys working in academic museums because it provides more direct space to mentor emerging museum leaders.
Elaine D. Gustafson (she/her) is the Curator of Collections and Head of Facilities at the Weatherspoon Art Museum, University of North Carolina, Greensboro. She is a member of the museum’s leadership team and oversees the registration, prep, facilities, security, and visitor services departments. As Curator of Collections, Elaine researches, documents, interprets, and teaches with the collection as well as manages its preservation, growth, and access both in-person and digitally. She graduated summa cum laude from Wheaton College, Norton, MA, and completed her MA and doctoral coursework at Brown University. Elaine believes museums should be welcoming places that reflect multiple audiences, celebrate all cultures, and offer various means of entry: programmatically, interpretatively, and experientially. The projects she finds most fulfilling foster personal growth while inspiring visitors to engage with works of art and to think critically about the world in which we live.
Shereena Honary (she/her) oversees Events for the University of Iowa Pentacrest Museums and has been there since 2015. She holds a B.A. in English Literature, and a Research Masters in Area Studies of the Middle East which focused on Middle Eastern diasporic narratives, themes of identity, gender, Otherness, and the ways in which personal narrative guides us towards understanding and universal humanism. Her background continues to inspire her passion for museums, helping to collaborate a wide variety of events between university departments, student groups, and the greater community. Since 2020, she serves on the Board of Directors for the Iowa Museum Association. Among the many joys of working in a museum within a university institution, it is working with and inspiring students that she finds to be most fulfilling.
Bre Kappel (she/they) is the Museum Program Coordinator for the Museum of Southwestern Biology (MSB) at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. In this position at the MSB, Bre shares the work of researchers at a closed natural history collection through public programming ranging from still-life drawing sessions and annual open-house tours to off-campus events and guided nature walks. Most recently, Bre has begun teaching a year-long 8th grade science class in collaboration with Jefferson Middle School, allowing students to explore museums of all types through in-class activities and weekly on-campus tours and lab visits. Bre is currently pursuing an undergraduate degree in Science Communication and Museum Studies at the University of New Mexico. She plans to continue on to graduate school with hopes of exploring the educational potential of narrative and object-based learning, science identity, and hands-on experiences in museum settings.
David Matteson (he/him) is the Associate Curator of Education at the Rollins Museum of Art. In this role, David oversees the Museum’s academic and public programs. Prior to joining the staff at RMA, David was the Associate Curator of Education and Outreach at the Orlando Museum of Art, where he specialized in adult and community access programming. David holds a bachelor’s degree in Studio Art and English and a master’s degree in Business Administration from Rollins College. He is currently a doctoral candidate completing his dissertation in the Texts and Technology program at the University of Central Florida. His research broadly focuses on digital curation, public history, and museum education.
Jodi McCoy (she/her) is the Director of Exhibitions at Missouri State University in Springfield, MO. McCoy obtained her master’s in museum studies from the University of Oklahoma and bachelor’s in art history from Baylor University. She has curated exhibitions featuring work from Aaron McIntosh, Yvonne Osei, Rae Senarighi, and Rachel Youn. Her strategies for curating programming and exhibitions at Missouri State University emphasize the exploration of contemporary issues and creating space for diverse voices in an academic gallery that functions as a site for dynamic community engagement. McCoy’s research interests focus on the gendered nature of portraiture as well as student engagement in the academic gallery space. Outside of her interests in art, art history, and museum studies, McCoy is a former competitive swimmer, adores her pup Sadie, and enjoys spending time reading and cooking with her fiancé. They are currently working through What’s Gaby Cooking’s Eat What You Want.
Mei Méndez (she/her/ella) is the Assistant Director for Strategic Engagement at the Weatherspoon Art Museum, University of North Carolina – Greensboro. In this role, she facilitates museum programming and events that emphasize that our diverse student body and Greensboro community belong at the museum. Until 2017, she served as the Interim Esperanza Bravo de Varona Chair of the Cuban Heritage Collection and Librarian Associate Professor at the University of Miami, Coral Gables. From 2017-2022, she served as program manager for the Eastern Academic Scholars’ Trust, which began as an initiative of the Boston Library Consortium, where she was program officer from 2018-2021. Méndez curated many exhibitions from the Cuban Heritage Collection’s special collections and has published articles and spoken at conferences on library studies, collections and exhibit planning, collaborative instruction, and mentorship.
Joseph McKee (they/them) is the Coordinator of Student Engagement and Technology at the University of New Mexico Art Museum (UNMAM), in Albuquerque, New Mexico. At UNMAM Joseph fosters relationships between UNM students and the museum through providing participatory opportunities and expanding student-centered initiatives. They oversee the UNMAM Student Advisory Council and manage the UNM Art Museum Journal: Here To Inspire. In 2022, they received a B.A. in Art History and Museum Studies from the University of New Mexico with an emphasis on contemporary digital art and graphic design.
Dalina A. Perdomo Álvarez (she/her) is an Assistant Curator at the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University. She joined the museum in 2021 as a Curatorial Assistant. Previously, she was the 2018–2020 Curatorial Fellow at the Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College Chicago and has worked at the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture and Video Data Bank at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She received her MA in Film Studies from The University of Iowa, and her BA in English from the University of Puerto Rico – Mayagüez. She is the AAMG Michigan State Representative.
Sara Pinkham (she/her) is the Exhibition & Engagement Coordinator for the Main Library Gallery at the University of Iowa Libraries. She works with a team of staff and guest curators to produce exhibitions using the Libraries’ special collections and archival materials, and plans exhibit-specific public programs, outreach, and class visits for UI students. Sara has over a decade of experience in museum programming and education, exhibit development, and project and nonprofit management. She earned her BA in history from Mount Mercy University in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and is currently working toward her MS in Library and Information Science with a focus on archives through the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Jessica Smith (she/her) has served the Communications Department at the University of Iowa Pentacrest Museums since 2018. Her backgrounds in sociology, art, marketing, environmentalism, and non-profit organizing inform and contribute to her work as a museum professional. Jessica supports exhibits, engagement, community building, and teaches students to create access to science and history using creative media, writing, and joy.
Hannah Southern (she/her) is the Assistant Curator of Collections Research and Engagement at the Weatherspoon Art Museum, University of North Carolina at Greensboro. In this position, she engages with the intersectionality of education and collection description. She organizes and teaches Collection Study Sessions, a unique collections-based and curriculum-driven class experience designed for UNCG academic classes. She additionally manages the museum’s database, fields research requests, and continues research on the Weatherspoon’s collection. MS in Library Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, specializing in art museums and archives. She enjoys combining her art history and library science skills to make the Weatherspoon’s collection database more accessible as a primary engagement and educational tool.
Rangsook Yoon (she/her), Senior Curator, joined Sarasota Art Museum of Ringling College of Art and Design in December 2022. She previously held curatorial and directorial positions at Artis–Naples, The Baker Museum in Naples, Florida; the Art & History Museums–Maitland; and Rollins Museum of Art in Winter Park. Over the past ten years, she administered and curated over 30 exhibitions and was heavily involved in public and educational programming at her institutions. Born, raised, and educated in South Korea, Rangsook majored in French Language and Literature at Korea University in Seoul and received her PhD in art history from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University in 2008. Before her museum career in Florida, she was a full-time professor of art history, teaching college courses ranging from early modern European to modern and contemporary art at nationally ranked institutions including Trinity University, Central College, and Chapman University.