For Students, By Students: Cultivating Belonging through Curricular Partnerships // Ceglio // Douberley // Paul

In this episode of the CAA Conversations, Amanda Douberley, Clarissa J. Ceglio, and Alison Paul discuss the William Benton Museum of Art at the University of Connecticut, which brings student perspectives into its galleries and fosters belonging through innovative curricular partnerships. Three recent projects undertaken by classes in UConn’s School of Fine Arts produced student-centered interpretive materials for the Benton’s exhibitions. Each interactive project connected the museum with the campus community in a different way and cultivated a sense of belonging for both students enrolled in partner courses and student visitors to the Benton. Clarissa J. Ceglio, PhD, is Associate Professor of Digital Humanities, Associate Director of Research, for Greenhouse Studios, and Associate Director of Collaborative Research for UConn’s Humanities Institute. Her research focuses on the ways in which museums, past and present, engage diverse communities in issues relevant to individual and civic thriving. She looks, too, at the affective and rhetorical uses of material, visual, and digital artifacts in constructing national and social imaginaries. Through her teaching and research, Ceglio also collaborates with museums, libraries, and communities on interdisciplinary public-facing and grant-funded projects that engage diverse audiences in topics of contemporary concern. Amanda Douberley is Curator & Academic Liaison at the William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, Storrs. She is responsible for connecting Benton’s collections and exhibitions with teaching in departments across the university. She has curated numerous exhibitions at the museum, often in collaboration with faculty and other campus partners. Douberley holds a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin with a focus on 20th-century American sculpture and public art. Before coming to UConn in 2018, she taught in the Department of Art History, Theory, and Criticism at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Alison Paul is an Associate Professor of Art and Area Coordinator for the Illustration/Animation concentration in the Department of Art and Art History at the University of Connecticut. Paul creates illustrations and stop-motion animations using cut paper collage. Her work is fundamentally about storytelling to a variety of audiences. Paul’s animations have been shown in film festivals internationally, and her children’s books have received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews. She has curated exhibitions at the William Benton Museum of Art in Storrs and the Roots Reading Room in Providence, RI. Professor Paul has taught at UConn since 2011.