Presenters

Marianne Lamonaca is a leader in the field of non-profit arts management and curatorial affairs. She served as Associate Gallery Director and Chief Curator at Bard Graduate Center, NYC; Associate Director for Curatorial Affairs and Education at The Wolfsonian-FIU; and Assistant Curator of Decorative Arts at the Brooklyn Museum. She has published and taught courses on twentieth-century decorative arts, design history, and curatorial practice. She holds an M.A. from Parsons The New School for Design and a B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College. Marianne is an affiliated fellow of the American Academy of Rome and the recipient of a 2001 Presidential Award for Achievement and Excellence from FIU. She is President Emerita of the Board of Trustees of the Association of Art Museum Curators and AAMC Foundation. 

Eric Davis serves as the Coordinator for the Humanities Edge program at Florida International University (FIU). He obtained an associate degree from Miami Dade College in 2010 and continued his studies at FIU, earning a bachelor’s degree in mass communication in 2013. Since graduating, Eric has been a full-time employee at FIU. He has gained extensive administrative experience in Higher Education, serving in various roles within the College of Arts, Sciences, and Education (CASE), including Office Specialist overseeing the Writing and Rhetoric program for the Department of English and systems trainer and department scheduling liaison on the CASE Enrollment team. For seven years, Eric managed the day-to-day operations of FIU’s Global First Year cohort, a program designed for international students spending their initial college years in the United States. Most recently he served as a post-award coordinator in the Office of Research and Economic Development. With a proven track record of service, Eric remains committed to being a valuable asset to the higher education community.

Kirk has over 20 years’ experience as a grants administrator and director of operations.  Most recently he facilitated project development for the Annie E. Casey Foundation Mission North Star grant program, a consortium of multi-stakeholder community-based partnerships organized through Miami Dade College to identify service, system and policy opportunities for strengthening economic opportunity pathways for young adult parents. Prior to that he coordinated outreach, recruitment and program development for the National Science Foundation STEM-Mia grant program at MDC. Prior to his work in higher education, he served as an artist manager in New York City working closely with various recording artists including the Ramones, Talking Heads, Deborah Harry and Blondie, after which he served as Director of Operations and Development for the Winter Music Conference. During his 18-year tenure at WMC, the conference developed into a preeminent global platform for the advancement of the music industry and one of Miami Beach’s premier annual week-long citywide cultural events, attracting more than 2,000 artists and 50,000 participants from over 70 countries each year.  His community advocacy, leadership and public service engagements include serving on the Board of Directors for Miami Beach United and he is currently serving his third term as Dade Heritage Trust nominee on the Miami Beach Historic Preservation Board by appointment of the City Commission. He also previously served as a panel member for the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs Festivals grant program. Kirk studied at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and completed his Bachelor of Arts degree at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina.

Adelina Rios Cequea is the Office Specialist for the Humanities Edge program at Miami Dade College. She earned her bachelor’s degree in International Business from the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, in Medellin, Colombia where her passion for research and academia led her to become a Research Intern at the School of Economics, Administration, and Business. She has seven years of experience working in project management with international companies and non-profit organizations. Her credits include collaborating as an author on the 2022 publication “Economía conductual, publicidad y evaluación de experiencias sensoriales en el marketing digital”, which showcases investigations in behavioral economics and experiential marketing. Adelina's commitment to making a positive impact on society extends beyond her academic pursuits. She serves as a proud member of the Global Shapers, Miami Hub, a group affiliated with the esteemed World Economic Forum. As an extension of her dedication to addressing global challenges and advancing meaningful change, her contributions seek to further the mission of this organization to inspire, empower and connect young leaders to reach their full potential, shape decision-making processes and drive positive change in their communities and the world.

John Sotham is a retired Air Force colonel with 30 years of active and reserve service primarily in aircraft maintenance, security forces/air base defense, and manpower and personnel. His assignments included two squadron command tours—one Stateside and one while deployed to Afghanistan. He was a student and instructor at Air Command and Staff College, where he studied national security, joint planning and military leadership. He next served at U.S. Southern Command as a political-military affairs officer, as the detachment commander in charge of Air Force Reserve personnel, and as chief of the manpower and organization division, where he was involved in coordinating joint and interagency personnel augmentation during SOUTHCOM’s whole-of-government response to the devastating 2010 earthquake in Haiti.

He is a former associate editor of Air & Space Smithsonian, where he was the researcher and aerospace technical editor for special edition posters and was the magazine’s book reviews editor. He traveled nationally and internationally for Air & Space—some of his favorite assignments included reporting from Moscow and the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on the Soyuz launch that carried the first crew to the International Space Station, an extended tour of England and Scotland writing about obscure airports and aviation museums, and flying with the U.S. Coast Guard’s International Ice Patrol to the wreck site of the RMS Titanic to conduct a burial at sea of one of the ship’s last survivors. Mr. Sotham is an adjunct instructor in the Lee Caplin School of Communication and Journalism within FIU College of Architecture and the Arts and currently services as an Associate Director within the university’s Career and Talent Development office.

Clotilde M. Picart-Laguer is a Career Specialist with more than 20 years of experience in labor law. Ms. Picart-Laguer’s educational background includes a Juris Doctorate and master’s in labor relations from Interamerican University, and a bachelor’s degree in systems of justice from Universidad del Sagrado Corazon in Puerto Rico. She served as an administrative judge in labor matters and represented the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in labor and torts disputes and real estate endeavors. In addition, she was a solo-practitioner in family and labor matters representing the interests of marginalized individuals before the judicial court of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico.

David Telleria is a Career Specialist with an extensive background in facilitating students’ academic and career success. David holds a bachelor’s degree in Organizational Communication from Rollins College and a master’s degree in Mass Communication from Florida International University. Previous roles include Director of Student Services, eServices Coordinator, and Career Center Specialist.

Recently, David found his passion as an educator in the classroom, teaching Public Speaking and Speech and Writing for Business, among others. With experience and expertise in advising, academic support services, and teaching, David understands the student experience. He considers thoughtful self-analysis combined with strategic career exploration fundamental to achieving long-term and rewarding career success.

Victoria Allende was born in Mendoza, Argentina and has lived in Miami, Florida since 1997. An alumnae of Miami Dade College, Victoria graduated from Florida International University with a BA in Art History in 2014. During her time at FIU, Victoria was the curatorial intern at the Frost Art Museum and was member of the Miami Emerging Museum Professionals. Victoria began her career in the arts profession working as the Gallery Assistant at the prominent Cuban Art gallery Cernuda Arte in Coral Gables, Florida and was later the Content Specialist for the Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation (CIFO) in Downtown Miami, Florida. Since 2017, she has been the Fine Arts Coordinator for Miami International Airport’s Division of Fine Arts & Cultural Affairs.

Rosabel Gomez is the Object Collections Registrar at HistoryMiami Museum. She obtained a Master’s Degree in Museum Studies from the University of Washington and a Bachelor of Arts in History from Florida International University. She’s worked in the museum field since 2016, primarily in education, collections, and public programming. She is passionate about the educational enrichment and support that museums can bring to a community.

Gisselle Mestre Delgado is a first-generation student who emigrated from Cuba at the age of 14. She is a recent graduate in Art History with a certificate in Pre-Modern cultures (Summer 2024). Her passions are Latin American Art and Women’s Art. It is these two studies that drove her to her thesis topic, “The Artistic Representation of the Witch: From Demonization to Empowerment” - A research project realized with the guidance and support of Professor Lidu Yi. She hopes to continue the project during a possible future master’s Program. She has been associated with Humanities Edge since she transferred from MDC to FIU and participated in the H.E.Arts Summer Program in 2022. With the help of Humanities Edge, she got her first internship at the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum as well as being part of other experiences such as Humanities Fly-In DC, and the Humanities Edge Conference. She is currently a research assistant at the Museum of Art and Design at MDC and an intern for the Woman Artist Archive Miami (WAAM).

Buenos Aires–born, Miami-based Diego Waisman is a visual artist that explores themes of social and economic displacement, identity, and exile. Waisman utilizes documentary photography, video, and installation to build connected narratives about overlooked social topics. He holds an animation degree from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, a bachelors in studio art from the University of Miami and a Master of fine arts from Florida International University. In 2022, Waisman received the Green Space grant, which funded and exhibited his installation This Community, and the 30th Annual Emerald Coast National Best-in-Show, organized by Northwestern Florida State College.

In 2023, he participated in the Urban History Association’s 10th Biennial, where he presented a paper on his recent research and creative work around issues of affordable housing in South Florida. He is a Ratcliffe Art + Design Incubator fellow and has received scholarships from the Berkowitz Contemporary Foundation and the Faena Art. Additionally, Waisman is a finalist for the Pathways 2024: The Carlos Malamud Prize, organized by the Rollins Museum of Art and the University of Central Florida Art Gallery. His first monograph, Sunset Colonies, is a visual meditation on Miami’s vanishing mobile home communities. The book will be released by the University Press of Florida in Fall 2024.

Althea (Vicki) Silvera is the department head of Special Collections in the Green Library at FIU. She received her library degree from the University of Western Ontario. She has been at FIU for more than twenty-five years. She previously served as university archivist, FIU's records management liaison officer, and curator for the Gallery at Green Library. She came to FIU in 1987 from Occidental College in California. Silvera has also worked with the Archives of Jamaica, the National Library of Jamaica, and NHPRC's Garvey Papers Project (UCLA). During her tenure as head of Special Collections, the department has received donations of more than $5 million.