Core Faculty
Kirk Domer
Program Director, Arts, Cultural Management, & Museum Studies Program, Professor, Department of Theatre
Kirk Domer assumed the Program Director for ACM&MS in January 2023, following a 6-month appointment as Acting Associate Dean for Personnel & Administration in the College of Arts & Letters. He teaches in the ACM&MS program and is part of the faculty in the Department of Theatre, where he is a Professor of Scene Design, Graduate Program Director, and regularly teaches professional aspects for career preparation in the arts. He recently served as the Department of Theatre Chairperson for ten years and is a member of United Scenic Artists, Local USA 829.
Devon Akmon
Director, MSU Museum & CoLab Studio
Devon Akmon is director of the MSU Museum and CoLab Studio. Previously, Devon served as a Senior Consultant with the DeVos Institute of Arts Management at the University of Maryland. His work included providing organizational guidance and support on artistic and strategic planning, community engagement, institutional and programmatic marketing, fundraising, and board development for a wide-range of cultural institutions from across the United States. Prior to that, Devon served as the second director of the Arab American National Museum (AANM). Devon currently serves on the boards of the American Alliance of Museums and Artspace.
www.devonakmon.com | @DevonAkmon
Max Evjen
Academic Specialist, Arts, Cultural Management & Museum Studies Program
Max Evjen is Faculty in the Department of Theatre, where he teaches Site-Specific Performance and is core faculty in Arts, Cultural Management, and Museum Studies, where he teaches Introduction to Arts & Cultural Management and Learning in Museums. He is also Digital Humanities Coordinator in the Digital Humanities program at MSU. He has more than 15 years of experience in arts & cultural management and informal science learning.
Welcome video from Professor Evjen
517-432-1561
evjendav@msu.edu
Tina Newhauser
Academic Specialist, Department of Theatre
517-884-7793
newhause@msu.edu
Dionne O’Dell
Faculty, ACM&MS & Department of Theatre
Mary Worrall
Curator, Textiles and Social Justice Michigan State University Museum
Mary Worrall is Curator of Textiles and Social Justice at the Michigan State University Museum. Her research interests include quilts and quiltmakers, dress, women’s history, and craftivism. Worrall works with developing and managing exhibition, research, collections, and educational programs. Her work includes addressing social justice issues through exhibition, collections, and community co-curation.
Barb Whitney
Artist. Educator. Administrator.
Barb believes the arts are a public good and that arts education is a fundamental right. Whether teaching, leading an arts nonprofit, coordinating Michigan’s statewide partners, or conducting national research, her career’s common threads are to uplift and inspire through the arts. Her academic research is focused on equitable arts education for youth in the U.S. from a sociological perspective, outlining the injustice perpetrated by withholding the rights to arts education from particular populations.
Barb earned a BA in Art and Art History from Kalamazoo College and an MA in Arts Administration from the University of Michigan – Flint. A fundraiser and community coordinator, she currently serves as the Partners Coordinator and Advocacy Consultant for the Michigan Arts Education Instruction & Assessment project and as the Associate Director of Development, Cultural Arts, Michigan State University.
Contact: 517.883.1435, bwhitney@msu.edu
Other MSU Faculty
Kelly Hansen
Graphic Designer & Museum Exhibit Designer for MSU Outreach and Engagement
Kelly Hansen is an award-winning graphic designer and museum exhibit designer for Michigan State University Outreach and Engagement. Prior to this she honed her design and marketing skills for over a decade working as the creative director at a local advertising agency. She has an M.A. in Arts and Cultural Management, and a B.A. in Advertising from Michigan State University. Kelly is also an artist whose paintings have been featured in shows at the Scarab Club in Detroit, the Ann Arbor Art Center, and the South Haven Center for the Arts, among others. She teaches Introduction to Arts and Cultural Management.
William Matt
Executive Director, Meadow Brook Estate, Oakland University
William Matt is the Executive Director of Meadow Brook Estate at Oakland University. Meadow Brook Estate consists of the original 1,400 acres donated by Matilda Dodge Wilson to create Oakland University, which includes many historic buildings with the centerpiece being Meadow Brook Hall. The Executive Director is responsible for financial, operational, education, development, collections, marketing and property preservation functions for the estate and hall. Formerly the Deputy Director of the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University, his career at MSU began at the MSU Museum assisting with projects involving environmental upgrades for collections care and helping to launch the Great Lakes Folk Festival. Bill worked for MSU Residential & Hospitality Services with a business and project management focus before joining MSU Broad in 2014. He was instrumental in leading the creation of the MSU Broad Art Lab, an auxiliary gallery and activity space adjacent the museum. He has a bachelor’s degree in business and master’s degree in education administration both from MSU. He has been a presenter at AAMG, and works with AAM as a peer site reviewer for museum accreditation.
Affiliate Faculty
Donna Braden
Senior Curator at The Henry Ford
Donna R. Braden has had 43 years of experience as a curator at The Henry Ford, Dearborn, Michigan, beginning as a curatorial assistant and moving up, most recently, to Senior Curator. She has a B.A. in anthropology, with distinction in American History, from Ohio State University and M.A. degrees in Museum Studies from the Winterthur Program in Early American Culture, Winterthur, Delaware, and in Liberal Studies from the University of Michigan-Dearborn. She has published many blogs, as well as numerous articles and books, including Spaces That Tell Stories: Recreating Historical Environments (2019), The Henry Ford Official Guidebook (2017), and Leisure and Entertainment in America: Based on the Collections of Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village (1988).
Welcome video from Professor Braden
bradendo@msu.edu
Eugene Dillenburg
Writer and Exhibit Designer
Eugene Dillenburg was born in Chicago in 1960 and makes no apologies for either. Over the past 30-odd years – some of them very odd indeed – he has worked for the Field Museum of Natural History, the Shedd Aquarium, the Science Museum of Minnesota, and a museum on a campus down in Ann Arbor which shall not be named. He has also contributed to a wide variety of projects as a consultant, including work at the Detroit Institute of Arts, the National Canal Museum, and the Science Center of Kuwait. He currently feeds eight cats, not all of them his.
Ryan Duda
Arts Administrator, Educator & Performing Artist
Katharine M. Hude
Owner/Attorney of Hude Legal Services PLLC, Professor of Law and Policy
Kate has a JD from the Thomas M. Cooley Law School, a MS in Nonprofit Arts Administration from Boston University, and a BFA in Theatre Design & Production from the University of Michigan. Kate practices in the areas of nonprofit and business law, contracts, copyright and trademark, probate and estate planning, and real property. She also provides nonprofit consulting, association management, and advocacy services to nonprofits. A resident of Lansing, Kate is active in the community, serving as the Fund Development Committee Chair of the Lansing Art Gallery & Education Center, the Junior League of Lansing Endowment Board Chair, and as a member of the City of Lansing Mayor’s Arts and Culture Commission.
Heather-Marie Montilla
Consultant
Heather-Marie Montilla, a dynamic integrative leader, has worked in arts, cultural, educational, and community building arenas for nearly 20 years. Having been an Executive Director for 8 years, Heather has a wide range of experience in management, finance, strategic planning, marketing and fundraising, as well as designing and implementing resource development and management plans that motivate staff and increase community engagement. Heather holds an MPA From Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs with an Advanced Management Technique and Finance and a BA from Duke University with a double major in Public Policy and Art History, as well as a Markets and Management certificate. In addition, Heather participated in the DeVos Institute of Arts Management programs focused on Capacity Building, Strategic Planning and Strategic Planning Implementation.
Shannon Schmoll
Director of the Abrams Planetarium
Dr. Shannon Schmoll is the director of the Abrams Planetarium at Michigan State University. She has worked on expanding the planetarium audience by finding new ways if utilizing their immersive planetarium theater to engage folks in learning about everything in the universe, which is everything we know about. She has a PhD in astronomy and science education. Her dissertation was titled “Toward a Framework for Integrating Planetarium and Classroom Learning” and was aimed at better understanding how planetarium field trips can effectively fit into formal astronomy curriculum. She also has completed a certificate in Museum Studies. She participated in the Astronomy in Chile Educator Ambassador Program’s first cohort that took astronomy educators to Chile to visit major observatories first hand as well as the first cohort of Mission Patagonia which taught educators about climate change and conservation efforts in the south of Chile. She is currently the research lead on the Big Astronomy Project, studying how virtual programming during the pandemic compares to in person visits to a planetarium.
John Simmons
Writer and Museum Consultant
John E. Simmons consults and teaches collection workshops worldwide and serves as Associate Curator of Collections at the Earth and Mineral Sciences Museum & Art Gallery, Penn State University. His books include Museums: A History (2016), Things Great and Small: Collections Management Policies (2nd edition, 2018), and Museum Registration Methods (6th edition, 2020).
Emily Sutton-Smith
Actress, Arts Administrator & Executive Director
Emily Sutton-Smith is an actress, arts administrator, and Executive Director of the Williamston Theatre, which she helped to found in 2006. In addition her administrative work at the Williamston Theatre, she was on staff at Ann Arbor’s history Michigan Theater and was instrumental in producing a concert version of Stephen Sondheim’s Follies that reunited original Broadway cast members. Her work is not limited to the nonprofit world, having worked at Dodger Theatricals in New York City during a time of tremendous growth in the 1990s. As an actress, her appearances on the WT stage include Tracy Jones, These Mortal Hosts (streaming presentation in April 2020), Out of Orbit, Doublewide, Summer Retreat, Too Much, Too Much, Too Many, Miracle on South Division Street (2015 Wilde Award, Best Actress in a Comedy), End Days, The Usual: A Musical Love Story (with music by her late brother Mark Sutton-Smith), The Smell of the Kill, The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-In-The-Moon Marigolds (2009 Best Actress Thespie Award, Lansing State Journal), Maidens, Mothers and Crones and Additional Particulars. A New York City native, she has worked onstage at almost all the Equity Theatres in Michigan, including the Purple Rose Theatre, Performance Network Theatre, Tipping Point Theatre, the Detroit Rep, Boarshead Theatre, the Jewish Ensemble Theatre, and MeadowBrook Theatre. Emily is a proud member of the Actors’ Equity Association and SAG/AFTRA. Film and TV credits include: The Funeral Guest, Gifted Hands, Butterfly Effect: Revelation, The Prince of Motor City and Nevermore. Emily is the narrator of over 200 audio books (available on Audible.com), studied acting at the Atlantic Theatre Company in New York City, and holds a Grande Diploma in Pastry Arts from the French Culinary Institute. She received her Master of Fine Arts degree from Michigan State University.
EMERTI
Susan J. Bandes
Professor Emerita, Department of Art, Art History, and Design
Susan J. Bandes is Professor of Art History and Director of Museum Studies. She received her MA and PhD degrees from Bryn Mawr College, specializing in Roman Baroque painting. She served as Director of MSU’s Kresge Art Museum (now the Broad Art Museum) from 1986 until 2010 where she curated numerous exhibitions and wrote many catalogues. Among these are: Affordable Dreams: The Goetsch-Winkler House and Frank Lloyd Wright, an exhibition and subsequent edited book on the local Usonian house’s 50th anniversary in 1990; WPA in Michigan, and American Modernism. She teaches Renaissance and Baroque Art, Modern Architecture and Curatorial Practices. She is a member of the Print Council of America and is a frequent assessor and accreditor for the American Alliance of Museums.
517-884-2901
bandes@msu.edu
Graduate Students
Maileen Bugnaski
Maileen Bugnaski (she/her) is a graduate student in the ACM&MS program. Originally from Kalamazoo, MI, she graduated with a BFA in Studio Art from MSU in 2021. During her graduate studies she has worked as a Graduate Assistant for the Education team at the MSU Museum and an Education Programs Fellow at the MSU Broad Art Museum. Currently, she is a Graduate Assistant at Beal Botanical Garden, assisting with programming and event planning. Maileen is also a RCAH Graduate Fellow in the Arts and Community Engagement program. .
Arielle Creps
Arielle Creps (she/her/hers) is an arts and culture administrator focused on developing sustainable avenues of support that allow non-profit organizations to provide equal access while making a positive difference within the community at large. She is currently the Business Development Coordinator with ArtPrize, where she supports efforts to solicit, coordinate, and communicate with ArtPrize sponsors and prospective partners. She has been involved in arts and cultural organizations across the country including the Centennial Museum at the University of Texas, El Paso; Lansing Art Gallery; and Potter Park Zoo. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Art History & Visual Culture with a minor in Museum Studies, and a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology with a minor in Geography from Michigan State University.
Katherine Hagman
Katherine is an artist, educator, and creative events producer reveling in the spaces where scientific and creative inquiry collide. She is currently the Associate Coordinator of the MSU Science Festival where she designs and facilitates educational experiences in the STEAM disciplines for both public and K12 audiences across the state of Michigan. With over ten years of experience in the nonprofit sector, she has also worked with organizations such as the MSU Museum and ArtPrize to uplift and enrich communities through festivals and events celebrating art and culture. Her academic and professional interests are vast but include science communication, informal adult education, educational entertainment, and experiential learning.
Jennifer Junkermeier-Khan
Jennifer Junkermeier-Khan (she/her/hers) is a curator, writer, and arts administrator based in Detroit. She has served as the co-founding editor of Infinite Mile, a Detroit-based journal of art and culture, and has worked in commercial art galleries and non-profit art organizations in Ann Arbor, Detroit, and New York. Junkermeier-Khan has organized numerous exhibitions of contemporary art internationally in various capacities. Through her work and studies, she wants to create systemic change within art & cultural organizations where inclusivity, diversity, equity, and access (IDEA) are realized in the production, consumption and critique of contemporary art and culture.
Ben Lash
Ben Lash (he/him/his) graduated with bachelor’s degrees in cognitive science and theatre arts with a minor in psychology from Marquette University in the spring of 2022. Since moving to Michigan, Ben has been working as a graduate assistant in the Writing, Information, and Digital Experience (WIDE) Lab, the ACM&MS department’s representative in the Council of Graduate Students (COGS), and a member of the board of directors at the Williamston Theatre. Ben is passionate about making science more engaging and accessible through work in museums and the arts.
lashbenj@msu.edu
Katie Mielens
Katie earned her bachelor’s degree from Central Michigan University in Art, Art History, and Museum Studies in 2015. Since then, she has worked as a K-12 teaching artist and educator at various schools, museums, and arts nonprofits around the country. These include Tacoma Art Museum in Washington, Cranbrook Art Museum in Bloomfield Hills, Discovery World in Milwaukee, and ArtistYear in rural North Carolina. Katie is happy to be back in the Great Lakes Bay Region and serve as the Education & Museum Services Manager at Saginaw Art Museum and on the Youth Committee at Bay City Players. She will also be participating in the Michigan Arts & Culture Council’s Rising Leaders Program in 2023-24. Katie is passionate about youth development through the arts and believes in the role young people can play in creative placemaking.
Olivia Morea
Olivia is a current graduate student in the ACM&MS program. Originally from New Hampshire, Olivia moved to Michigan to pursue her undergraduate degree in Studio Art at MSU. During her time as an undergraduate student, she worked as at the Broad Art Museum where had the opportunity to work across departments as a Gallery Guide, Events Intern, Student Preparator, and Student Assistant to the Registrar. Through her work with the Registrar, Olivia discovered a passion for collections keeping and will continue to cultivate her knowledge in the area through her role as Graduate Assistant to the Registrar with a focus on the care and documentation of the MSU Broad permanent collection. Olivia also enjoys working with the Art History Association to bring museum experiences to the MSU community.
Caitlyn Tanner
Caitlyn is a current graduate student focusing on Museum Studies. Prior to attending Michigan State University, she received a bachelor’s degree from Olivet College with a major in History and a minor in Anthropology/Sociology. Caitlyn worked as a Student Researcher at the Hosford History Center and Lawrence Archives during her undergraduate years, before going on to serve as a Scholar in Residence. She currently works as a Library Services Assistant at the Charlotte Community Library, where she is able to combine her academic and professional interests to enrich the community around her.
C Widmann
C Widmann (they/them/theirs) is a person who wears many hats in the creative and academic world. They have BA’s from MSU in English Literature and Theatre, and continued a minor in Arts & Cultural Management into an M.A. Their areas of interest include publication management, writing center management, and video game community management. They are the Graduate Assistant at The Cube, and a seasoned writer for both The Current and HerCampus MSU. C works as a consultant in the MSU Writing Center as well as on the communications team for Creativity In The Time Of COVID-19, a grant funded by the Mellon Foundation. C is putting ACM coursework to practical use as a part of MSU Club Fencing, where they are the head of recruitment and a dedicated fencer. They are also the PR and Community Manager for the Planetside 2 gaming outfit 2RAF, follow on Twitch @darkknightsrevenge.
Connect on social media: IG@c.rosewidmann Twitter@ceilirw97