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Moderator: Dr. Robert Gregg

Dean Robert Gregg is a Professor of History and Dean of General Studies at ºÚÁÏÉç University, where he promotes interdisciplinary learning and creative exploration. His scholarship includes Sparks from the Anvil of Oppression, a study of African American migration, and Inside Out, Outside In, a work of comparative history. Deeply engaged in the arts, he collaborates on theatrical adaptations that reimagine classic works, blending history, culture, and performance.

Panelist: Dr. Elizabeth Ellis

Elizabeth Ellis is an Associate Professor of History at Princeton University, specializing in early American and Native American history as well as Indigenous Studies. Her research focuses on diplomacy, borderlands, cross-cultural exchange, and Indigenous politics in early North America. She earned her B.A. from Tulane University and her Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her first book, The Great Power of Small Nations: Indigenous Diplomacy in the Gulf South, explores the formation of Native American nations in the Lower Mississippi Valley and their role in shaping the region’s history.

Panelist: Noelle Lorraine Williams

 Noelle Lorraine Williams is a public humanities specialist, researcher, curator, and writer whose work explores how African Americans have used culture to envision liberation in the United States. Her multidisciplinary practice spans photography, glass bead embroidery, and video, and her work has been featured in publications such as The Star-Ledger, The New York Times, and Art News. Williams’ exhibitions and work have been showcased at institutions including the Newark Museum, Rush Arts Gallery, the Philadelphia African American Museum, Jersey City Museum, and Skylight Gallery. Currently her exhibition, "Stay: The Black Women of 19th Century Newark" is on view at historic Ballantine House at the Newark Museum of Art. She is currently an artist in residence at Project for Empty Space in Newark and directs the state's African American history program and Black Heritage Trail. 

Panelist: Sara Cureton

Sara Cureton serves as the Executive Director of the New Jersey Historical Commission, where she provides leadership in preserving and promoting the state's cultural heritage. As a key figure in the NJ 250 Initiative, she plays an instrumental role in shaping New Jersey’s commemoration of the United States’ 250th anniversary. With a distinguished background in historical preservation and public history, Cureton is dedicated to nurturing meaningful engagement with the arts and humanities, ensuring that New Jersey’s diverse narratives are thoughtfully represented and celebrated.

Panelist: Dr. Aamir Rehman

Dr. Aamir A. Rehman is an investor, educator, and author specializing in values-driven investing and ethical finance. With experience managing multi-million-dollar investments and advising organizations like the United Nations and World Bank, he helps people align their finances with their principles. He teaches private equity at Columbia Business School and research how investors learn from experience. The author of books on global finance and entrepreneurship, Dr. Rehman brings real-world insights into finance, strategy, and impact investing.

Panelist: Mark McDonough

Mark McDonough is the President of New Jersey American Water, leading efforts to provide water and wastewater services to 2.8 million people across the state. As the company’s principal external representative in New Jersey, he strengthens customer, regulatory, and government relationships while driving operational and financial performance. Previously, he served as President of American Water’s Military Services Group, overseeing 17 military installations and securing major water and wastewater system operations contracts at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Joint Base San Antonio, and U.S. Army Garrison West Point.

McDonough joined American Water in 2005, serving as Chief Compliance Officer and lead counsel for the Military Services Group. Before that, he worked in private law practice in New Jersey and Maine. He was a Special Agent for the U.S. Government, conducting investigations for the U.S. Department of Energy, Amtrak, and the General Services Administration. He holds a B.S. in Criminal Justice from the University of Delaware, an M.S. in Justice from American University, and a J.D. from George Mason University.

Room 2010

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Moderator: Dr. Joe Cronin

Joseph Cronin currently serves as the Executive Director of the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs at ºÚÁÏÉç. He has held this role since 2023. His office provides support for faculty, staff, and students at ºÚÁÏÉç seeking or applying for external grant funding. In his 18-year career in higher education, he has led similar positions at Kean University in Union and at Rutgers University in New Brunswick. He received his doctorate in Psychology in 2003 from the University at Albany, State University of New York. 

Panelist: Barbara M. Bickart

Barbara Bickart (she/her) is the new Senior Advisor of Arts and Culture in the New Jersey Economic Development Authority’s (NJEDA’s) Community Development department. In this capacity, she is helping to lead the NJEDA’s efforts in arts, culture, and placemaking by developing and implementing strategies to strengthen community relationships and increase dialogue among stakeholders relative to arts and culture. Prior to joining the NJEDA, she worked as a visiting faculty member and the Video Department Chair at the School of Museum and Fine Arts at Tufts University, teaching and developing curriculum and implementing socially engaged community-based projects. She has also worked as an independent interdisciplinary visual artist for over twenty years, honing a socially engaged practice working in collaboration with historically underrepresented communities of people, as an arts and education consultant, and is the small business owner of Fire in the Belly Artmaking. Her work has been shown in galleries, museums, and theaters nationally and internationally. Barbara earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English with a minor in Art from Rutgers University and a Master of Arts degree in Media Studies from The New School for Social Research. 

Panelist: Danielle Bursk

Danielle Bursk is the Director of Community Partnerships & Artist Services for the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. Serving as the designated State officer in NJ for public arts inclusion, she partners on inter-agency arts projects with State agencies, authorities and universities; and leads the Council's Partnerships and Services team. Through her role with the Arts Council, she proudly leads the Arts Selection Committee for the Newark Airport Terminal A art program and continuously seeks to help provide opportunities for artists in the state through public arts and funding opportunities. While the last decade of her career has been spent in public service and grantmaking, Danielle brings years of experience in the arts to her work including exhibitions, development, arts administration and teaching. She has served as a review panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, the PA Council on the Arts, and the Illinois Arts Council, as well as currently sitting on the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Transit Cooperative Research Program Panel. Danielle has an MFA from Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts, a BFA from Temple University’s Tyler School of Art, and a certificate in Nonprofit Management from LaSalle University’s Business School.   

Panelist: Lynne Toye

 Lynne Toye assumed the role of Executive Director of the New Jersey Arts and Culture Renewal Fund in November of 2021. She has held senior leadership positions in the cultural sector and has supported the arts and culture community in New Jersey for over 20 years. She is a dedicated thought leader and cultural advocate committed to equitable practice in her work. She combines her passion for the arts with the mission of the New Jersey Arts & Culture Renewal Fund. Prior to joining the Renewal Fund, she served as Chief Administrative Officer at the Harlem School of the Arts in New York City.

Ms. Toye serves on the Board of ArtPride NJ, Sphinx Music and the New Jersey Council for the Humanities. She also participates on the Education & Community Engagement Committee (ECE) of the New Jersey Symphony.

Ms. Toye holds an MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and has also taught there as an adjunct professor. She also holds a B.S. in Systems Engineering from University of Virginia. In her spare time she enjoys getting outdoors to enjoy New Jersey’s beautiful parks, going to museums and galleries, and taking in performances at many venues around the state of New Jersey

Room 2011

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Moderator: Ryann Casey

Ryann Casey is a New Jersey based artist, curator, and educator. Casey holds a BA in Photography with a minor in Gender Studies from ºÚÁÏÉç and an MFA/MS in Photography and Art History from Pratt Institute. She currently works as the Exhibition Coordinator at the ºÚÁÏÉç Art Gallery and is an adjunct Professor of Photography, Art History and Critical Theory. Casey’s current photographic work focuses on themes of loss, trauma and memory including her long-term project Loss Event. Recent curatorial projects include Indigenous Approaches, Sustainable Futures, We Are the River: Complex Narratives, Conservation & Committing to New Jersey's Waterways, Before, After: Reflections on the Armenian Genocide, Gandzaran! Notable Selections from the Armenian Museum of America, and The Road Home: Migration, Displacement & Redefining Where We Live.

Panelist: Jack Swenson

Swenson, who participated in the Science Enrichment Academy at ºÚÁÏÉç (SEAS) camp as a rising high school senior, knew he was going to major in Environmental Science. He credits SEAS camp for bringing him to ºÚÁÏÉç’s farm where he worked throughout his college years and found the bridge to join his creative side with the sciences. After camp, he continued to work on a long-term garlic research project at the farm that is identifying which variety grows best in New Jersey, when to start planting for optimum growth and how to best space the plants. Jack Swenson ‘24, an Environmental Science and Visual Arts double major, ºÚÁÏÉç’s sustainability farm nurturer.

Panelist: Tyrese Gould Jacinto

Tyrese "Bright Flower" Gould Jacinto, of Bridgeton, New Jersey, is a citizen of the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Nation. Born on September 27, 1963, in Bridgeton, she is the daughter of Phyllis "Red Deer" and Chief Mark "Quiet Hawk" Gould, who was among a core group in the 1970s that initiated the modern-day structure of the tribe. Tyrese "Bright Flower" was, therefore, immersed in tribal arts from an early age. She is also the first granddaughter of Marion "Strong Medicine" Gould, who was famous in the tribe for her knowledge of herbal medicine, regalia making, and storytelling. She is fortunate to have been taught and guided by her to learn the ancestral wisdom of herbs and everyday life traditions. With four generations alive, Tyrese is surrounded by family values and traditions of old. She has created folk products for healing by producing and growing the local herbs used in her tinctures. The inspiring true story of Marion "Strong Medicine" Gould, a Lenape matriarch, and the Native way of life will be remembered through the book "Strong Medicine" Speaks: A Native American Elder Has Her Say by Amy Hill Hearth, 2008, which also mentions Tyrese.

Panelist: Dr. Lauren M. Seyler

Dr. Lauren Seyler is an assistant professor of microbiology in the School of Natural Sciences Biology Program at ºÚÁÏÉç in Galloway, NJ, and an affiliate research scientist at the Blue Marble Space Institute of Science. She received a B.A. in Biology from Rutgers University in 2008 and a Ph.D. in Biological Oceanography from Rutgers University in 2015. She held a postdoctoral research position at Michigan State University, in which she developed a metabolomics approach to characterize dissolved organic carbon pools in serpentinite-hosted aquifers, and at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, where she used metagenomics and meta transcriptomics to determine how microbes cycle carbon and other nutrients in ocean crustal fluids. Dr. Seyler’s current research describes microbial activity and biogeochemical cycling in a variety of environments-