The Certificate is proud to host graduate students from a wide variety of disciplines. Students currently participating in the program are listed below:

Marybeth Henry Gill
Marybeth Henry Gill is a dual-degree graduate student in the History and Library and Information Science (HiLS) program at the University of Maryland. Marybeth is interested in how information institutions, such as museums and libraries, promote information literacy through instructional programs, community outreach, and targeted digital initiatives. Her historical studies focus on modern European history; specifically on twentieth-century Germany. She has a background as a classroom teacher and resides in the Rockville area with her husband and their energetic twin boys.

Wanda Hernández
Wanda Hernández is a doctoral student in the Department of American Studies. She received her Bachelor of Science in Mass Communication from Virginia Commonwealth University. In 2017, Wanda curated Nuestras Historias: Latinos in Richmond, the first bilingual exhibition to explore Latino heritage in Virginia. Her research interest revolve around Afro/Latinidad, Central Americans and Washington, D.C., but more generally bring together race and ethnicity, space and place, material culture and women of color feminisms. In addition to academia, Wanda maintains an arts education and independent curatorial practice.

Kenna Hernly
Kenna Hernly is a doctoral student in the College of Education. She received her BA in Art History from St. Mary’s College of Maryland and her MA in Contemporary Visual Art from Falmouth University, UK. Before starting her Ph.D., Kenna worked as Learning Curator for Adult Programs at Tate St Ives, UK. She also worked as an independent curator and event producer for ten years and collaborated with a wide variety of institutions, including the National Trust and the independent publishing company Urbanomic. Her research focuses on increasing access to historically underrepresented audience groups and understanding how museums can become culturally sustaining environments for a diverse range of audiences.

Kristi Li Puma
Kristy Li Puma is an M.A. student in the American Studies Department at UMD. She is a cultural worker within queer, Latinx & POC communities in DC and part of her research focuses on the practices that underground musicians and party organizers use to create safer social spaces. She also does youth development work with teenagers as a local high school educator.
Most recently, Kristy’s research has explored the subversive nature of maleta (suitcase) spaces through lenses of transnational migration, queer material culture, and women of color feminisms. As a proud local of the DMV (D.C., Maryland & Virginia) area, Kristy is also passionate about researching and documenting movements for social justice through collaborative oral histories and new media tools, as well as cultivating community events to explore our own versions of connection, care and coming undone together.

K. Sarah Ostrach
K. Sarah Ostrach is a graduate student in the College of Information Studies pursuing her Master of Library and Information Science degree. She has a previous master’s degree in East Asian Art History, with a focus on China, as well as extensive training in Spanish. Before beginning her MLIS, Ms. Ostrach taught Art Appreciation, English, and Digital Literacy for university students and adults. Ms. Ostrach’s career and research interests center on serving linguistically diverse populations and expanding visual and primary source literacies in higher education. Academic success requires extensive training and cultural awareness; Ms. Ostrach is committed to collaborating with all students, staff, and faculty to ensure everyone eager to contribute to the advancement of knowledge is able to do so. Within the arts and humanities, she seeks to expand access and critique traditional narratives by exploring Open Education Resources (OERs), highlighting physical and digital collections in her practice, and helping learners engage as much with the objects as with the literature of their fields.

Chelsea Stolt
Chelsea Stolt has two B.A. degrees from the University of Maryland in Anthropology and Classical Languages and Literature. Currently, she is an M.Ed. student of Curriculum and Instruction (specializing in TESOL) in the College of Education. She is pursuing this certificate in order to research the accessibility of museum exhibitions and educational programming to underprivileged communities, such as non-native English speakers, immigrants, and refugees. She believes that museums are capable of having a larger role in developing equity of education and hopes that she will be able to work with institutions to incorporate that perspective into their outreach and programming.