Faculty and Staff

Kayla Amador is Assistant Director of Hanes Gallery. Amador graduated from Wake Forest University in 2019 with a Double Major in Japanese Language & Culture and Studio Art, with Honors. As a student, Amador was involved in the arts as a member of the 2016-2017 Student Union Art Acquisition Committee and as a student assistant for four years at the Hanes Gallery. Amador was manager of stArt Gallery from 2019 to 2021, where she worked to coordinate, curate, and install exhibitions of student work.

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Paul Bright arrived at WFU in 2004 and has been the director of the Hanes Gallery since 2012 and stArt Gallery since 2009. He has occupied diverse roles within art entities, universities, and museums, as a graphic and exhibition designer, studio art instructor, and curator. Recent collaborative projects and exhibitions under his curatorial direction can be found on the Hanes Gallery site.

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Jessica Burlingame is the Collections Manager of the Office of University Art Collections.

Jennifer Finkel is the Acquavella Curator of Wake Forest University’s Art Collections. Finkel studied art history at Georgetown University and received her doctorate in Renaissance art at Case Western Reserve University. She has been working in the world of contemporary art for the past 15 years.

David Finn is Department Chair of Art and a Professor of Art at Wake Forest, where he has taught sculpture since 1987. David Finn has had over 15 solo exhibitions, including shows in New York, London, Milan, Hong Kong, and Lund, Sweden.  The recipient of fellowship grants from the Bemis Foundation, New York Foundation for the Arts, North Carolina Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts, he has created a number of public art projects in North Carolina.

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Born in Los Angeles, Peter Kairoff received Master’s and Doctoral degrees in music performance from the University of Southern California. He also studied in Italy for two years as a Fulbright Scholar and Rotary International Fellow. Professor of Music at Wake Forest University, he has performed as pianist and harpsichordist in Berlin, Rio de Janeiro, Venice, New York, Los Angeles, Shanghai, and many other musical centers.

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Scott Klein Artistic Director of the Secrest Artist Series, the performing arts series at Wake Forest University. From 2014- 2017, Klein served on the national Executive Committee of the Association of Departments of English, and from 2015-18 he was the Chair of Interdisciplinary Approaches for the Modernist Studies Association.

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Nina Maria Lucas is a Professor of Dance and the Chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance. She has been a member of the faculty since 1996 serving as the Director of Dance for 20 years and continues to be the Artistic Director of the Dance Company.

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Beth McAlhany is a Senior Director of College Initiatives and focuses her efforts on supporting the Arts at Wake Forest.

Steve Morrison is Communication Strategist for the Arts & Interdisciplinary Initiatives at Wake Forest. He uses design, social media, and visual ingenuity to showcase the exciting performances, artworks, and events on and off campus. Morrison received his BFA (Illustration) in 2006, and his MFA (Painting) in 2015.

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Riley Phillips graduated in 2021 as a double major in Studio Art and German. She has been the manager of stArt Gallery since 2021.

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Christina Soriano is an Associate Professor of Dance and the Associate Provost for the Arts and Interdisciplinary Initiatives at Wake Forest University. She has taught courses in improvisation, dance composition, 20th C American Modern Dance History and modern dance technique. She excels in interdisciplinary courses that bring subjects like chemistry and dance together and arts literacy in elementary schools.

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