Biography
I started teaching part-time at KU in the Art Education Program, in Spring 2025. From 2009-2022, I was an Associate Professor of Art and Director of the Art Education Program at Moravian University.
I earned my Ed.D. in Art Education from Teachers College Columbia University; MA in Art History and Museum Education from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, through a joint program with the Cleveland Museum of Art; and BA in Liberal Arts from New York University. I also hold a K-12 Art Teaching Certification in NJ.
I started my career as a museum educator at the Cleveland Museum of Art, Indianapolis Museum of Art, and Lehman College Art Gallery in the Bronx, NY, where I designed and taught art programs for children, families, teachers, and the public. Throughout my career at Moravian University, I continued to teach art to children, teens, and K-12 teachers through my work as an art and mindfulness teacher with Shanthi Project
in Allentown. I developed and taught art lessons in diverse settings such as Central Elementary School, Dieruff High School, Bethlehem Boys and Girls Club, Northampton County Juvenile Justice Center, Lehigh University, and Warren County Technical High School. I have also been a teaching artist for the Banana Factory in Bethlehem since 2019.
In 2019, my book on curriculum design, Creating Vibrant Art Lessons: A Teacher’s Sketchbook, was published by Teachers College Press.
Currently, in my full-time role, I am the Community-Building Center Director at Ripple Community, Inc. in Allentown, where I develop life enrichment programming, including art programs, for 60-80 community members daily, primarily families and adults experiencing homelessness, people living with histories of trauma and the working
poor. This spring 2025, I have an intern from KU working with me at Ripple, designing art programming. We hope to collaborate with a faith based organization, Holy District, to curate an art exhibition in their community art space, called “Garden City” in Allentown.
Publications
Books
(2019). Creating Vibrant Art Lesson Plans: A Teacher’s Sketchbook. New York: Teacher College Press.¿
(2009). Recollections of Family Photographs from Five Generations: The Role Narrative and Reflexivity in Organizing Experience. Saarbrücken, Germany: VDM Verlag Publishers.
Selected Scholarly, Peer Reviewed Articles
(2019). Using Preschool through Secondary Art Education Lesson Plans for Understanding Personal Conceptions of Art Teaching and Learning. In G. Cloutier, P. Ding, T. Kukkonen, A. Shields & J. Sokolowski (Eds.) INSEA 2019 World Congress Proceedings (pp. 111-115). Viseu,Portugal: InSEA Publications
(2014). A Convergence of Three: The Reflexive Capacity of Art Practice, Curriculum Design, and Pedagogy. Art Education: The Journal of the National Art Education Association (67) 6, 28-34.
(2012). The Role of Family Snapshots in Teaching Art History within a Dialogic Pedagogy. Art Education: The Journal of the National Art Education Association (65) 1, 11-18 .
