Current Students

Sena Karatas Ozturk was born in Turkey and completed her undergraduate degree at Istanbul Marmara University in the department of art education. Then, she was accepted into the master’s program in the same department of the same university. During this period, she applied for the scholarship program of the Ministry of National Education of the Republic of Turkey and was selected to complete her master’s and doctorate programs abroad in the field of art education. As part of this program, she got her graduate degree at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She is currently continuing her studies in the doctoral program in art education at Florida State University. Her research interests are extended reality (VR, AR, and MR), art education, learning processes, and new media art.

Areas of Study: Art Education

Research Detail: Virtual Reality (VR) technology in art education

Undergraduate Institution/Degree: Instanbul Marmara University, Art Education

Masters Institution/Degree: University of Alabama at Birmingham, Early Childhood Art Education

Audrey Jacobs received her Master’s in Art History and Certificate of Museum Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2014. Soon after, she took a position at The Heritage Center at Red Cloud as Museum Educator. This contemporary Native art museum is located in the territory now known as the Pine Ridge Reservation in southwestern South Dakota. She served as Museum Educator at the Center for 6 years, building school, youth, and adult programming and teaching a continuing education course for k-12 educators called “Teaching with the Art Museum.” Now in the Museum Education and Visitor-Centered Curation program at FSU, her research builds on her previous work at the intersection of K-12 schools and art museums, investigating the use museum studies in formal learning environments.

Areas of Study: Museum Education and Visitor-Centered Curation

Research Detail: Art museum and school collaboration. Academic art museums. K-12 museum schools; museology as pedagogy. Object-based learning.

Undergraduate Institution/Degree: Creighton University, Bachelor’s in Art History and French

Masters Institution/Degree: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Master’s in Art History and Museum Studies Certificate

Ashley Williams received her Master’s degree in Art History from the University of South Florida in 2017. After graduating she began her career at the Glazer Children’s Museum in Tampa, Florida. As Lead Educator, she developed programming focused on non-western art and created digital programming that was short-listed for The Kids in Museums’ Family Friendly Museum Award. Concurrent to her time at the children’s museum, she led educational initiatives at Gallery221@HCC creating curriculum for students and the community, as well as, establishing a Campus Art Loan Program, which integrated thirty works of art from the gallery’s permanent collection throughout four buildings on campus. She is currently an educator at the Gadsden Arts Center and Museum. Inspired by her work at the children’s museum, her research in the Museum Education and Visitor-Centered Curation program at FSU focuses on the role of play in art museum experiences for adults and how museum educators can use digital programming for accessible experiences.

Areas of Study: Museum Education and Visitor-Centered Curation

Research Detail:
Museum Education; Interdisciplinary Education
Informal Learning; Diversity, equity, accessibility

Undergraduate Institution/Degree: University of South Florida, B.A in Art History

Masters Institution/Degree: University of South Florida, M.A in Art History