Faculty and Staff

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.

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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Erin Kye is from King, NC and has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Guilford College, majoring in Printmaking and minoring in Documentary Filmmaking. Kye is interested in creating color woodcut monotypes of abstracted tree forms and alternative process photography.

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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.

Erica Palmiter is the Assistant Director of the Hanes Gallery. She previously worked at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts where she managed programming for teaching artists. Her work within art and education have taken many forms; designing curriculum, teaching in studio environments, mentoring artist-instructors, designing arts and education spaces, and planning large-scale events. Erica earned a BA in Visual Arts from Brown University, an MA in Art Education from The University of Texas at Austin, and an MFA in Studio Art from CalArts. She is also a mother and working studio artist.

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

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.