About

Dr. Alexandra F. Morris (she/her) is an Egyptologist and disability activist tying the past to the present. She is a Lecturer of Classical Studies at the University of Lincoln (UK), a Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Nottingham (UK), a Research Fellow with History UK, and was named the Working Classicists’ Unsung Classicist of the Year for 2024. Her research is on disability in ancient Egypt, and creating inclusive museums. She holds a PhD in History, MA in Museum Studies, and an MA in Near Eastern Languages & Civilisations (Egyptology). Her BA is in Archaeological Studies, Anthropology, and Art History with minors in Classics and history. Alexandra is also a Co-Founder of the UK Disability History and Heritage Hub, Co-Chair of CripAntiquity, serves on the Editorial Board for Asterion Hub, is Chair of the Lewisboro, NY Advisory Committee for the Disabled, and a member of the Disability Culture Research Group, and the Disabled Action Research Kollective (D.A.R.K.). She has cerebral palsy and dyspraxia.

Board Member Since: 2021

Current Position: President

Wade Berger is Postdoc, Learning Sciences at Northwestern University and studies how informal educators learn from and with each other. His interests include learning in small moments, interaction analysis methods, informal educator professional training, and the connective infrastructure of community-based learning. To do this work, he collaborates with educators at parks, museums, science centers, and after-school clubs. His work recognizes how these spaces are particularly poised to address anti-blackness, settler colonialism, anti-LGBTQ perspectives, deficit-mindsets, ableism, and the faults of capitalism within education.

Wade is an active member of the Chicago Learning Exchange, a visioning committee for the RESHAPE graduate student network, and recently joined a graduate chapter of Iota Phi Theta. He previously managed teen programs and created the Teen Learning Lab at the Shedd Aquarium. He has an M.S. from UW-Madison from the Games+Learning+Society group and started his career in learning as a high school social studies teacher.

Board Member Since: 2022

Current Position: Co-Vice President; Sustainability Team member

Dr. Marta Torres is an Associate Director of Work Program Training at Paul Quinn College, a private, historically black college in Dallas, Texas. She has a Doctor of Education (EdD) in Learning and Organizational Change from Baylor University and a Master of Arts (MA) in Art Education Specializing in Museum Studies from Caribbean University. With over ten years of experience in arts administration, education, career readiness and development, theater, and non-profit work; Dr. Torres is passionate about creating and researching transformative, equitable, and culturally competent educational content. She leverages her multidisciplinary background and cultural awareness to design and deliver interactive and engaging learning experiences for students, community leaders, administration, and partners. She is also committed to using performance art as a vehicle to represent diverse, authentic, and inclusive Latinx and multi-racial stories on stage.

Board Member Since: 2022

Current Position: Co-Vice President; Co-Treasurer; Communications Team member

Susan Jama is an art worker with over 5 years of experience leading community engagement and public arts programming with strong grassroots experience. She is the Programs and Community Coordinator at Onsite Gallery. Susan has worked with various institutions that approach heritage in a community-minded manner including Toronto Ward Museum (TWM) and Black Artists’ Networks in Dialogue Gallery & Cultural Centre (BAND). She graduated from Masters of Museum Studies from University of Toronto and completed her Bachelor in Psychology & History at York University.

Board Member Since: 2023

Current Position: Co-Treasurer; Sustainability Team member

Rebecca Ljungren empowers learners of all ages to think critically about the past to inspire a more just future. She currently serves as the Museum Educator in the Executive Residence, The White House. Ljungren earned a B.A. in Art History from American University and an M.A.T. in Museum Education from the George Washington University. She has worked in the museum education field for over 12 years, including at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, the National Women’s History Museum, the National Museum of Women in the Arts and the National Building Museum.

Board Member Since: 2021

Current Position: Secretary

Asami Robledo-Allen Yamamoto (she/her/ella) is the Project Manager for Latinos in Heritage Conservation. Previously, she served as the Community and Bilingual Program Coordinator and Spanish Translator for the Kimbell Art Museum. Her work focuses on bilingual, teen, and accessibility museum programs rooted in constructivism, empathy, and compassion.

Asami is a disabled Mexican woman and believes museum educational programs are catalysts to change in surrounding communities. Therefore, she advocates for Spanish-language inclusion, anti-ableist and anti-racist museum education practices, and gamification. She has also been a bilingual gallery teacher at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art.

Asami earned her both her degrees from the University of North Texas. Her MA is in Art Education with a certification in Art Museum Education, and her BFA is in Art Education with a double minor in Psychology and Art History.

Asami is also a practicing artist trying to raise awareness for various chronic illnesses through her paintings and video art.

Board Member Since: 2022

Current Position: Editorial Team Co-Chair

Orlando R. Serrano, Jr. is the Manager of PK-12 Learning at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History (NMAH). He supports, develops, and manages formal/informal educational and leadership experiences for students, professional development workshops for educators, and curriculum content. Prior to joining NMAH, he taught 9th grade Language Arts in Washington DC. Dr. Serrano holds a Ph.D. in American Studies and Ethnicity from the University of Southern California. He is an educator and public academic with expertise in human geography, environmental justice, social movements, and education policy and pedagogy. Dr. Serrano’s research and writing have been funded by a Ford Foundation Fellowship and National Science Foundation EDGE-SBE Grants.

Board Member Since: 2023

Current Position: Editorial Team Co-Chair

Ashleigh D. Coren is an independent curator and educator who was formerly the Head of Education for the American Women’s History Initiative, Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum. She holds a BA in Art and Visual Culture from Bates College, and an MS in Archives Management from Simmons College. She is a lapsed librarian and archivist who has held previous positions at the National Portrait Gallery, the University of Maryland, College Park, and West Virginia University.

Board Member Since: 2023

Current Position: Communications Team Co-Chair

Beatriz Galuban is a museum educator and assistant professor of art at Texas A&M University, Commerce. She is passionate about art museums and their potential for cultivating empathy, community, and connection among people. Beatriz specializes in art museum access programming for adult audiences. She teaches the Connections program at the Meadows Museum, SMU (a program for people with early-stage Alzheimer’s and their care partners). As an educator, she is also interested in how to make museums more accessible places for everyone. Beatriz is originally from Canada, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in art history and visual culture and an MA in art history. She recently graduated with a Ph.D. in art education and a certification in art museum education from the University of North Texas in 2021.

Board Member Since: 2023

Current Position: Communications Team Co-Chair

Kimaada Le Gendre (she/her/hers) is the Director of Education at the Queens Museum, where she curates, develops, implements, and oversees education programs rooted in social justice, accessibility, and culturally sustaining pedagogy. As a former history teacher, she prides herself on developing and shaping empowering curricula and programs through a decolonized lens.

Kimaada is also the best-selling author of 19 children’s books on cultural diversity, empowerment, and environmental issues. In 2022, she was part of the three-person curriculum development team researching, developing, and writing the official Curriculum Guide for the movie Till. She holds a Bachelor’s in English from Hunter College and a Master’s in Environmental Law and policy with concentrations in Climate Change Law and Energy Law from Vermont Law School.

She is also a senior fellow in the Environmental Leadership Program and an Immigrant Civic Leadership Senior Fellow in the CORO New York Leadership Program. In 2020, she became a Leadership & Social Change Fellow with the Institute For Nonprofit Practice. In 2021, she became a Board Member & Education Advisor for the Museum Council of NYC. She was also chosen to join artEquity’s second cohort of the BIPOC Leadership Circle. In 2022, she became a Board Member for the Museum Education Roundtable.

Board Member Since: 2022

Current Position: Sustainability Team Co-Chair

Nenette Luarca-Shoaf is Managing Director of Learning and Engagement at the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, currently under construction in Los Angeles. In her practice, she aims to demystify museums, activate art history so that it feels relevant to broad audiences, and to create opportunities for bridging scholarly research, creative practice, and public discourse. She was previously the director of adult learning and associate curator of interpretation at the Art Institute of Chicago and guest curator of the traveling exhibition, Navigating the West: George Caleb Bingham and the River. She earned a Ph.D. from the University of Delaware in the art and visual culture of the United States, and an M.A. in the Humanities from the University of Chicago. Nenette has taught courses at the School of the Art Institute and Ursinus College and also held fellowships at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Saint Louis Art Museum, and the University of Minnesota’s Institute for Advanced Study, among others.

Board Member Since: 2023

Current Position: Sustainability Team Co-Chair

Grace Auclair-Lee is the Executive Director of the Friends of the Tubac Presidio and Museum and holds an MA in Museum Studies from Johns Hopkins University. As a multi-generation Mexican American, Grace is passionate about providing bilingual accessibility for Hispanic Americans and supporting emerging Latinx museum professionals. Formerly the Science Communication Specialist and Guest Experience Manager at Arizona Science Center, Grace’s expertise lies in designing relevant and engaging museum experiences, supporting co-created programming, and empowering individuals to see themselves as changemakers through inclusive and accessible informal education.

Board Member Since: 2024

Current position: Communications Team member

Kate Mirand Calleri is an educator and artist. In her non-profit work, she is committed to building community through meaningful museum experiences and educational programs centered on accessibility, care, justice and art engagement for all people. As a neurodivergent leader, she brings an interdisciplinary and intersectional approach to her work. She is currently director of education at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum, where she oversees the museum’s entire educational ecosystem, working toward the museum’s strategic goal of supporting children and families in joyful, hands-on, and impactful experiences. Calleri has an MFA in photography from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She was recently named a 2021 American Alliance of Museum Meeting Scholar, was a 2023 Women inPower Fellow with the 92Y Belfer Center for Innovation and Social Impact, is part of the 2024 class in the National Art Education Association School for Art Leaders at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, and is a 2024 dedicated mentor for the New Museum’s New INC. incubator program.

Board member since: 2024

Current position: Editorial Team member

A highly skilled and talented museum professional, Vana Chainani come to us with over 9 years of experience working within museums, galleries, and community spaces. As a passionate historian, with a calling to share, she is constantly deep diving into historic and current stories of women, racialized groups, disabled persons, Indigenous, 2SLGBTQ+, and many more marginalized groups.

Being well versed in the G.L.A.M. fields and in various positions, the commonalities among roles that she has expanded on are the goals of engagement, accessibility, decolonization, and intersectionality. She has worked with Black Creek Pioneer Village, The Harriet Tubman Institute, The Art Gallery of Ontario, Guelph Museums, Guelph Black History Society, the MHSO, and Lakeshore Ground Interpretive Centre. Currently, she is a museum program officer with Toronto History Museums and has earned her Honours Bachelor’s degree and Master of Arts degree from York University.

Board Member Since: 2024

Current Position: Editorial team member

Arthurina Fears is the Esther Stiles Eastman Curator of Education at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. She was previously the Assistant Director of Gallery Teaching and Collections Training at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and has also held roles at the Davis Museum at Wellesley College and the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University of Oregon. She is an American Association for Museum Volunteers board member, New England Museum Association Professional Affinity Gathering Education Co-Chair, and is an alumna of the National Art Education Association School for Art Leaders. Fears holds an MA in Art Education from Boston University and a Graduate Certificate in Art History and BA in English from Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

Board Member Since: 2024

Current Position: Sustainability Team member

Please check back soon for Margaret’s bio!

Board member since: 2024

Current position: Editorial Team member

Sarah Timm is the Director of Education at Maine Maritime Museum in Bath, Maine. Sarah firmly believes in the transformative power of museum learning in strengthening dialogue, empathy, and community to build a more socially and environmentally just present and future. Sarah was a key leader in establishing Maine Maritime Museum’s Sense of Place program that asks K-8 students to reflect on how their past has shaped their present, the Green Teen internship program that provides a cohort of six high school students the opportunity to work collaboratively with marine science industry leaders to tackle a local environmental issue, and the Bowdoin College collaboration that saw 30 college students research the museum collection and curate a critical exhibit connecting Maine’s shipping industry to enslavement. Sarah also teaches maritime material culture at the Maine College of Art and Design. Sarah earned an MA in Art History from Florida State University and a double BA in Art History and Studio Art (Digital), with minors in History and Classical Studies from Elon University.

Board Member Since: 2024

Current position: Communications Team member