I came to Duke to become a Cold War negotiator. The Berlin Wall fell three months into my freshman year, and a computer glitch dropped me from “Legal Reading and Writing,” leading me to take “Art 70: Renaissance to the Present” with professor Kristine Stiles. I quickly learned to be responsive to change – and to identify unforeseen opportunities.
In a subsequent modern art class with professor Stiles, I studied Russian art history, which laid the groundwork for my graduate studies and an assignment to co-curate the largest U.S. survey of Russian art from icons to 2005 at the Guggenheim Museum, which required negotiation and collaboration with cultural and political colleagues at the highest level in Russia.
My Duke experience provided art historical expertise and encouraged my curiosity about others, preparing me to work on global projects in Australia, Germany, Spain and the United Arab Emirates. Time and again, I have drawn on my outstanding education while continuing to build upon it with a focus on identifying points of commonality among people living in different (or the same) times and places while appreciating and celebrating multiple perspectives and distinctiveness. Now leading a state art museum with a collection spanning antiquity to today, I strive to offer our audience a passport to the past and across the world with the goal of inspiring visitors of all ages to explore the unfamiliar and unknown. As my career path demonstrates, staying open to the unexpected can be life-changing.