B.A., Art History and English Literature, Whittier College
Samantha Cruz graduated with honors from Whittier College in
2017, earning a B.A. in Art History and English Literature. While
at Whittier College, she was awarded the Outstanding Student in
Art History award in 2016, and served as Vice President for the
college’s chapter of Sigma Tau Delta, the International English
Honors Society. She previously interned at the Muckenthaler
Cultural Center in Fullerton, CA as an Arts Education Associate,
and currently interns with the Timken Museum in San Diego, CA
with the Education Department.
Simone Gage earned her B.A. in Art History from Mills College in
May of 2021, graduating with the highest academic honors of summa
cum laude. Recently admitted to the Art History M.A. program at
the University of California, Davis, Gage plans to study global
contemporary art with a focus on the 1960s American cultural
revolution. In her own research, she hopes to examine how the
confluence of such mid-century national events as the post-war
economic boom, the rise of the supermarket, auto industry,
suburbs, and the advent of psychedelics have shaped visual
culture.
B.A., Art History, University of California, Davis
Bella received her B.A. in Art History and a minor in
Anthropology from the University of California, Davis in 2020.
During her undergraduate career, she worked as a Public History
and Digital Collections intern at the National Endowment for the
Humanities in Washington, D.C. She has worked at the Manetti
Shrem Museum of Art since 2018 and continues to work with the
museum throughout graduate school.
B.A., Art History and Criticism, University of California, San Diego
Wei Rodriguez earned her B.A. in Art History from UC San
Digeo. Her primary interest of study and research in the field is
in modern/contemporary Chinese art, especially in the impact of
colonial modernity on visual culture. Her undergraduate honors
thesis focused on the early life and professional career of
Guan Zilan, a female artist who was active during the
mid-Republican era. While Wei continues her study
at UC Davis, she will intern at the Pence Gallery and
the Crocker Museum.
B.S., Business Administration, California State University, Sacramento
Darya Ryan was born in Siberia, Russia. She earned her B.A. in
Business Administration (Management Information Systems) from
California State University, Sacramento (CSUS). Her primary
interest of study is the iconoclast art culture of post-Soviet
Russia. She is interested in the notion of unrestricted creative
idea and its potential to impact and transform the contemporary
world. Darya’s photography has been published in National
Geographic, Social Documentary Network, and the Edge of
Humanity magazine.
B.A., Art History, California State University, Sacramento
Sienna Stevens graduated summa cum laude from CSU Sacramento in
the spring of 2020. While at CSUS, Sienna served as an
instructional student assistant for a course on Renaissance and
Baroque art. Prior to beginning her M.A., she presented at the
CAA 2021 conference on her research paper concerning 18th-century
British engravings made during Captain Cook’s first journey to
the Pacific, as well as critiquing the imperial agenda of
Eurocentrism in Oceania.
B.A., History of Art, University of California, Berkeley
Emily received her B.A. in the History of Art from the University
of California, Berkeley in 2017, earning High Honors in the
History of Art and Distinction in General Scholarship. Before
beginning her M.A., Emily worked in the Education Department of
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, and she has previously
interned in education departments at The Frick Collection and the
de Young Museum.
Hannah Thompson earned her B.A. in Art History from Pepperdine
University. During her time at Pepperdine she worked as an art
history research assistant and student curator. Her primary
area of research is Native American Art. Her undergraduate thesis
explored the impact of institutions like schools and museums on
Native American artistic expression through the examination of
the lives and works of three Native American artists, Oscar Howe,
Jimmy Durham, and Stanley Natchez whose lives spanned the
20th and 21st centuries.
B.A. Art History, The University of BelgradeM.A. Cultural Management and Policy, The University of Arts, Belgrade
Originally from Belgrade, Serbia, Srđan is excited to join the
Art History department. He earned a BA in art history from
the University of Belgrade and an MA in cultural management
and policy from the University of Arts in Belgrade. Since 2011,
he has been working as a freelance curator, organizing art
exhibitions and educational projects.
Dada Wang was born in Beijing, China. She earned her B.A. in Art
History from Macalester College. Her undergraduate honors thesis
explored the sociopolitical significance of the works of Chinese
performance artists Zhang Huan, Ma Liuming, and He Yunchang. Her
primary interest of study is the visual culture of contemporary
China, and she is particularly interested in how globalized
transformations of the art world have disrupted the
center-periphery model of traditional art historical
inquiries.
