Therese Quinn Director thereseq@uic.edu Therese Quinn - BIO
Therese Quinn, Professor and Director of Museum and Exhibition Studies, has worked as an exhibit researcher, developer, and evaluator for Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago Children’s Museum, California Academy of the Sciences, and other cultural institutions. Her most recent books are School: Questions About Museums, Culture and Justice to Explore in Your Classroom (2020, Teachers College Press) and Teaching Toward Democracy: Educators as Agents of Change, 2e (2016, Taylor and Francis), and she has published other writings widely, including in American Quarterly, the Journal of Critical Military Studies, the Journal of Museum Education, and the Monthly Review. |
Elisa Soto Journal coordinator esoto32@uic.edu Elisa soto - BIO
Born and raised in Mexico, Elisa is a first-year international student pursuing her MA in Museum and Exhibition Studies at UIC. Using her background as a multimedia graphic designer, Elisa aims to build bridges between culture and community. Her areas of interest include Latin culture, education, and social justice. She enjoys playing tennis and wandering around museums. |
Alejandro Morales Art/Design Department amoral69@uic.edu Alejandro Morales - BIO
Born and raised in the Colombian Caribbean, Alejandro Morales is a Fulbright graduate student in the Museum and Exhibition Studies MA program at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He holds a BFA from the National University of Colombia in Bogota. His primary interest focuses on research and curatorial practices around biographical studies within Colombian local art histories, contemporary photography, and editorial projects such as art magazines and photobooks. |
Emina Hadzic Art/Design Department ehadzi3@uic.edu Emina Hadzic - BIO
Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, Emina Hadzic earned her BA in International Relations with a minor in Arabic Language and Culture and Graphic Design at Loyola University situated in the neighborhood of Edgewater. Fascinated with storytelling and her own personal family history she decided to pursue her Masters in Graphic Design at University of Illinois at Chicago. Her final project for her master’s degree is centered around different themes that encompass identity and the Bosnian diaspora. |
Oscar Solis
Art/Design Department
osolis5@uic.edu
oscar solis - BIO
Oscar is a graphic design graduate student at UIC's College of Architecture, Art and Design. Working at the convergence of art, design and technology, Oscar’s research-based practice explores documentation, speculative futures, and queer pedagogy.
Wilmarie Medina-Cortes Social Media Department wmedin3@uic.edu |
Kylee Borden SOCIAL MEDIA Department kborde3@uic.edu |
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Wilmarie Medina-Cortes - BIO
Wilmarie Medina-Cortes is a grad student at the University of Illinois at Chicago in the Museum and Exhibition Studies program. She holds a BA in Sustainability Studies from Roosevelt University. Inspired by her own immigration from Puerto Rico, Wilmarie’s research involves looking at Puerto Rican photographic archives and how they relate to migration to the Chicago area. She is also a Research Assistant at the Latino Cultural Center working on a project connecting Latinx food traditions to issues of land, food, environmental and social justice. She resides in Chicago with her husband, a cat, and many plants. |
Kylee Borden - BIO
Kylee Borden is a second-year graduate student in UIC’s Museum and Exhibition Studies program. With a concentration in cultural anthropology, Kylee received her BAs in History and Anthropology in 2019. Kylee’s research interests include East Asian spirituality, history, and cross-disciplinary engagement. Her current research involves developing cross-disciplinary collaboration and partnerships for the cultural field. Kylee spends her time working at a Children’s Museum, playing video games, and raising her puppy. |
Brianna Medina Social Media Department bmedin21@uic.edu Brianna Medina - BIO
Brianna Medina (She/They) is a 20-year-old mixed media artist based in Chicago. They grew up in South Chicago and are currently a third-year undergraduate student pursuing a BFA in Studio Arts and a minor in Psychology at UIC with the aim of becoming an art therapist and continuing to actively apply an interdisciplinary approach to art. Brianna strongly believes in the fruition of self-expression and the ways art can be used as healing, an outlet for relief, protest, and self-care, along with much more. In their pastime, Brianna is a coffee enthusiast, enjoys cooking, and likes to curate playlists for fun. |
Harini Nilakantan Social Media Department hnilak2@uic.edu Harini Nilakantan - BIO
Hailing from South India, Harini is a first-year International student pursuing her MA in Museum and Exhibition Studies (MUSE) at UIC. She earned her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) in 2020. Her background as a Bharatanatyam (Indian classical) dancer heavily influenced her desire to rethink and reimagine the way in which cultures and traditions from all over the world are documented and displayed either in Museums or on Social Media. Harini currently resides in Chicago and divides her time between being a busy graduate student and a member and choreographer for Chicago’s premier co-ed Bollywood Fusion Dance Team: Chicago Adaa. |
Benjamin McManamon network Department bmcman2@uic.edu Benjamin McManamon - BIO
Benjamin McManamon is a graduate student in the Museum and Exhibition Studies Department at UIC. He currently works at the Wonder Works Children’s Museum and as a substitute teacher for the Chicago Public Schools. As a former social studies teacher, his primary interest is in museum education, specifically how games and simulations can be used to educate visitors on difficult topics, particularly on the imperial origins of museum collections. Raised in Chicago, he returned to the city during the Pandemic after two years teaching in rural Mississippi. |
Amirah Nasir network Department ajnasir2@uic.edu Amirah Nasir - BIO
Amirah Nasir is a graduate student in the Museum and Exhibition Studies Department at UIC. She is currently working as a Programs Coordinator for the Abrahamic Center for Cultural Education (ACCE), an Islamic art gallery and resource center. ACCE is initiative of the Islamic Food and Nutrition Council of America (IFANCA) that works to educate the community about Islam and Muslims through educational programming, gallery tours, and other civic events. |
Erica Schoppe
network
Department
Department
eschop2@uic.edu
Erica Schoppe - BIO
Erica Schoppe is a Chicago based public program facilitator, cultural worker, and educator. She has held roles in the education and programming department in institutions across the city, most recently as the Community Engagement Graduate Assistant at Gallery 400. She is finishing up her MA in Museum and Exhibition Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her final project collects the stories of cultural workers and their perspectives of the field. She spends her free time with her dog Cooper and expanding her city garden.
