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Colloquium

Art History Alumni Colloquium

The 75th anniversary of Kittredge Hall brought together a special event with Logger artists and alumni. The Art History Alumni Colloquium features research presentations and roundtable discussions addressing a wide range of career choices pursued by Puget Sound art and art history alumni, from software development and archaeology to gallery management, estate sales, and curatorial work.

Alumni Katie Ferguson (Human Resources Administrator, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco), Maggie O’Rourke (Education Department, Seattle Art Museum), Kristie Chang (Online Content Marketing & Analytics Coordinator, Tacoma Art Museum), Michelle Reynolds (Curatorial and Programming Coordinator, Wellin Museum, Hamilton College)

Kelsey Eldridge in Rome
Kelsey Eldridge in Rome with the reconstruction of the colossal statue of Constantine the Great.

Kelsey Eldridge ’12 serves as Visiting Assistant Professor of Art History at the University of Puget Sound. She earned her Ph.D. at the Department of the History of Art and Architecture at Harvard University in 2023. She served as Tyler Fellow and Museum Intern at Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, and held a Graduate Fellow position for Fall 2018 at the Villa i Tatti, The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies in Florence to pursue research on her dissertation entitled, Imitations of Empire: Porphyry Sarcophagi in Byzantium and Beyond.

McKenzie Baldwin ‘20 earned an M.A. in Urban Planning with an emphasis on Historic Preservation at the University of Washington.

Kate Threat ’20 published her poetry chapbook titled Anatomy of My Mixed Body with Blue Cactus Press, Tacoma in 2022.

Andrew Griebeler ’09 is Assistant Professor of Art History at Duke University. His book, Botanical Icons: Critical Practices of Illustration in the Premodern Mediterranean was published in 2024. Andrew held a postdoctoral fellowship at the Seeger Center for Hellenic Study of Princeton University in 2022-2023 and was awarded a Getty/American Council of Learned Societies Postdoctoral Fellowship in Art History for 2021-2022 for his project titled: Medusa Underground: An Occult Icon in Byzantium. He held a two-year postdoctoral fellowship in art history at USC after earning his Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley with a focus on Byzantine art in May 2019. He won first prize in the 2012 student essay competition of the International Center of Medieval Art (New York, NY) for his paper: "Picturing Time and Eternity in Sixth-Century Ravenna;" was awarded a two year fellowship (2014-2016) from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation to pursue his dissertation research at the Kunsthistorisches Institute in Florence; was awarded a three-year (2016-2019) David E. Finley Fellowship of the CASVA (Center for Advanced Studies in the Visual Arts) intended for research and travel in Europe related to his dissertation on Byzantine manuscripts of herbal medicine. The fellowship also provided a year-long residency at the Center to complete the dissertation and carry out curatorial work. Andrew was also awarded a Dumbarton Oaks Dissertation Fellowship (declined) and a Townsend Fellowship from UC Berkeley (declined).

Westrey Page ’12 is Curator and Advisor to the Director General of the Stiftung Museum Kunstpalast in Düsseldorf, Germany. She curated the exhibition, Death and the Devil, The Fascination with Horror (2023-2024) at the Kunstpalast. She earned an M.A. degree in art history at the Freie Universität in Berlin in 2014. She participated in the Congress-Bundestag Young Professionals Exchange Program in 2012-13, a competitive fellowship program offered to seventy-five young Americans each year. The program offers university training followed by an internship of the candidate’s choice in Germany in order to develop intercultural exchange between young Americans and German professionals.

Elsa Woolley Harberg ’15 earned an M.Sc. degree in Real Estate and the Built Environment from the Franklin L. Burns School of Real Estate & Construction, University of Denver in 2024. Elsa is VP of Asset Management & Development at the St. Charles Town Company in Denver, Colorado focusing on architectural historic preservation.

Louisa Raitt ’15 Ph.D. candidate at the Institute of Fine Arts of NYU and adjunct professor at the University of Connecticut. She served as Project Research Associate at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she also held the Marica and Jan Vilcek Curatorial Fellowship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for 2020-2021.

Rachael Stegmaier ’21 presented a talk at the Undergraduate Research Symposium at the University of Washington in May, 2021, titled: "Siqueiros and Modernism in the Americas."

Ayse Hunt ’19 is pursuing a joint PhD in Computer Science and Learning Science at Northwestern University. She completed a Curatorial Summer Internship at the Living Computer Museum in Seattle in 2019. She also presented a paper entitled, “Digital Strategies and Access in the Art Museum” at an international conference “The Art Museums in the Digital Age” at the Belvedere Museum in Vienna, January 2019.

Ellis LeBlanc ‘20 earned an MA degree from the University of Chicago in the Humanities with an emphasis in Art History. His thesis is titled: “The dirt in the room: Exhibiting Walter De Maria’s Earth Room.” Ellis is currently working in the Collections Department of the Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago.

Lenna Soifer ’19 was accepted to the M.A. program of Sotheby’s focused on Fine, Decorative Arts and Design in London.

Sarah Johnson ’19 served as Museum Assistant and the Tacoma Historical Society and as Museum Intern at the Snoqualmie Falls Hydroelectric Museum in 2019. 

Mary Thompson ’19 is pursuing an M.A. degree in art history at Hunter College. She worked as Gallery Assistant with David Lusk Gallery in Memphis, TN after completing a Summer Internship with Smarthistory, affiliated with Khan Academy.

Hannah Lehman ’17 is working as Gallery Teacher at the San Jose Museum of Art. She works with school groups that visit the museum, and designs and leads lessons, tours, and discussions about the artworks in the museum’s exhibitions and permanent collection.

Ally Suarez ’16 (Art History major, English minor) was accepted to the Syracuse University’s dual MA program in Art History and Museum Studies.

Ben Block’ 14 works as Principal Software Engineer at Syntax Indices in New York, NY. Prior to this position Ben was a software developer at Tyemill in Seattle.

Brendan Balaam ’14 served as a curator at the Tacoma Historical Society. He earned an MLitt degree in Material Culture & Artifact Studies from the University of Glasgow.

Jordyn Jones ’14 earned a law degree at Seattle University in 2017.

Tosia (Klincewicz) Morris ’14 is Senior Marketing Specialist at Slalom, Seattle, WA. She served as Digital Marketing Consultant and Analyst for Logic 20/20, Inc. in Seattle, and Communications and Festival Coordinator and Digital Communications Coordinator for AIA (American Institute of Architects) Seattle. She presented a paper, "On Display: Curating the Works of Julia Margaret Cameron", at the Gender Studies Symposium held at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon in March 2014.

Maggie O’Rourke ’14 is Events Producer at KCRW in Los Angeles, CA. Prior to this position, Maggie worked at Seattle Art Museum as Assistant Manager for Education and Education Assistant in the Department of Public Programs; she held a 2014 summer internship in the Education Department at the Seattle Art Museum.

Lucas Sokolsky ’14 participated in the Art Summer Residency Program in Europe in Summer 2014 with three studio art students, traveling to Budapest, Leipzig, and Berlin to study contemporary art. The program was funded by an anonymous donor; Luke also served as Gallery Associate at Jules Maeght Gallery in San Francisco. He works as free-lance art critic and writer in San Francisco.

Joelle Luongo ’13 is Director of Arabella Advisors in Washington, D.C., a philanthropic consulting organization. She held the position of Program Assistant of the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Awards in Washington, D.C. and was Curatorial Intern in Summer 2013 for the African collection of the Seattle Art Museum.

Emily (Bolton) Cabaniss ’12 is Lead Archivist for The Winthrop Group in Seattle. Emily worked as Archivist for King County and as Company Librarian and Music Associate for the Seattle Opera. Emily earned an M.A. in Library and Information Science at the University of Washington in 2014.

Michelle Reynolds '12 serves as Director of Digital Strategy at Syracuse University . Prior to this position, she worked as Marketing and Communications Manager at the Tacoma Art Museum . Michelle competed an M.A. degree in Art History and Museum Studies at Syracuse University in 2016 and worked as Curatorial and Programming Coordinator at Wellin Museum of Art at Hamilton College from 2016-2019.

Katherine Havlik ’12 earned a Ph.D. in Psychology at the University of Utah.

Tristan Needham (née Zabenko) ’12 earned an M.A. degree in Graphic Design and Art Direction from the Savannah College of Art and Design. She is Senior Art Director for Phase 3 Marketing and Communications in Atlanta, GA.

Zoe MacLeod ’11 earned an M.A. degree in information studies from UCLA, focusing on archives. She is Processing Archivist at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Samantha Barry (Howarth) ’10 earned an M.A. degree in Art History at American University. She is Sr. Accessibility Program Manager with Amazon Web Service in Washington, D.C. Prior to this position, she was Manager of Training at the Newseum, Washington, D.C. and Visitor Services Coordinator at Smithsonian Institution, National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

Zoe Fromer ’10 earned a Master of Arts in Teaching at Lewis and Clark College, Portland, OR.

Rebekah McKay ’10 is pursuing a Ph.D. in classical archaeology at UC Berkeley. After earning an M.A. degree in Archaeology at the University of Exeter, she worked as GIS Technician and Lab Technician at the U.S. Geological Survey and served as a Teaching Assistant at UC Davis in the Department of Classics.

Katie Ferguson ’09 earned an M.A. degree at the Fine and Decorative Arts Program of the Sotheby’s Institute of Art in London. She is Associate Director of Human Resources at Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Rachael Pullin ’09 is Manager of Educational Initiatives at the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation in New York, NY. She earned an M.A. degree in Art History from American University in 2014. Rachael also served as Research Editor for the David Smith Catalogue Raisonné for The Estate of David Smith and as Curatorial and Education Intern at the Smithsonian and as Curatorial Intern at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Lauren Justice ’09 is YogaX Executive Team Member in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University. She earned a Ph.D. in psychology (2013-2018) at Pacific University, Portland, OR.

Ashley Dowden ’08 completed M.A. degrees in Art Business at the Sotheby’s Institute of Art, New York, NY and the University of Manchester. She is the owner of Pampered Moose, which offers pet care and services in Bend, OR.

Sarah Lippai ’07 earned an M.A. degree in Art History with a specialization in Roman Art at the University of Washington.

Scott Valentine ’07 earned a Master of Design degree at the Harvard Graduate School of Design in 2016. He is Product Marketing Manager, Reality Labs’ Horizon Worlds at Meta; he served as Global Product Marketing Manager for Google via Artech Information Systems.

Michelle Salter ’07 earned a law degree at the University of Nebraska. Michelle is Managing Partner at M. Salter Law in Pittsburgh, PA. Michelle was Associate Attorney at the Nair Law Group and Associate (Manager) at the law practice, Egan LLP allied with Ernst & Young LLP in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Amy Peterson ’06 earned M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She works as Director of Special Projects at ETR Associates in Los Angeles, CA.

Theresa Kutasz Christensen ’06 is Private Consultant for Provenance Research working with the International Foundation for Art Research (IFAR). She was Kress Research Fellow at the Detroit Institute of Arts in 2019-2020. She completed her Ph.D. in Art History at the Pennsylvania State University in fall 2018. Other achievements include: the Katzenberg Fellowship at the Smithsonian Institution’s Freer and Sackler Galleries where she worked with Islamic manuscripts in the summer of 2006; the Archives of American Art of the Smithsonian Institution in 2006 where she curated an exhibit of recent acquisitions featuring the papers of ceramicists Robert Chapman Turner and Toshiko Takaezu; a Fulbright Fellowship to Stockholm to carry out work on her dissertation entitled, “Queen Christina of Sweden and the Politics of Antiquities Collecting in Early Modern Rome.”

Pamela Jaynes (nee Haynes) ’03 received an M.A. degree in Art History from the University of Washington in 2005. She runs her own art appraisal company in Seattle (Jaynes Appraisals) and serves as Gallery Specialist for the Seattle Art Museum.

Sarah Titus ’03 received an M.A. degree in Archaeological Studies from Yale University in 2006. Sarah is Senior Class Dean, Upper School History Faculty, and JV Field Hockey Coach at the University School of Milwaukee. As an adjunct professor, she taught at Utah State University, Weber University, the University of Washington, the University of Puget Sound, and Pacific Lutheran University. She also served as co-director of the Art History Seminar in Rome at the University of Washington.

Brenda Longfellow ’94 received her M.A. in art history at the University of Washington and her Ph.D. in classical art and archaeology at the University of Michigan. She is Associate Professor at the School of Art and Art History of the University of Iowa. She co-edited Women’s Lives, Women’s Voices: Roman Material Culture and Female Agency in the Bay of Naples ( University of Texas Press, 2021) and Roman Artists, Patrons, and Public Consumption: Familiar Works Reconsidered (University of Michigan, 2017). Her book Roman Imperialism and Civic Patronage: Form, Meaning and Ideology in Monumental Fountain Complexes (Cambridge University Press) was published in 2011. In 2012, she held the Rome Prize Fellowship in Ancient Studies at the American Academy in Rome.