Dr. Rhonda Garelick
Director, Interdisciplinary Arts Symposium
Rhonda Garelick is a scholar and critic of performance, literature, fashion, and cultural politics. She is the author of Rising Star (Princeton University Press, 1998, winner of the Kayden Award for outstanding manuscript in the Humanities) and Electric Salome: Loie Fuller's Performance of Modernism (Princeton University Press, 2007). She is currently at work on a book about modern fashion, mass culture, and interwar European politics, entitled Antigone in Vogue: Coco Chanel and the Myths of Fashion (under contract to Random House). Her work has appeared in the New York Times, New York Newsday, the Chicago Tribune, the International Herald Tribune, and the Sydney Morning Herald, as well as in numerous scholarly journals, critical anthologies, and museum catalogues in both the United States and Europe. In 2006, she received a John Simon Guggenheim Foundation fellowship. Professor Garelick has taught at Yale University, the University of Colorado at Boulder, Columbia University, and Connecticut College. She received her Ph.D., M.A., and B.A. in French and Comparative Literature from Yale University, and did extensive graduate work in Paris at both the University of Paris/VII and the Ecole Normale Superieure. Professor Garelick holds a joint appointment at UNL in the English department and at the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts.
Amy Ossian
Associate Director, Interdisciplinary Arts Symposium
Amy Ossian has a rich and varied background in the performing arts. She earned a B.A. with distinction in Theatre Arts with a focus on acting and directing and, later, an MBA from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She has worked on both the producing and presenting sides of the performing arts field. Before joining IAS, Amy worked at the Lied Center for Performing Arts for over six years. While at the Lied, she had the opportunity to work in the areas of programming, education, front-of-house, marketing, and development. Major accomplishments are growing the Lied’s internship program, coordinating Echoes of Project X: The Pentagon Papers Symposium, a cross-campus collaboration featuring distinguished speakers and a performance by L.A. Theatre Works, implementing an on-line volunteer coordination tool, and launching the Student Lieder program. Amy is a graduate of the 2008 Association of Performing Arts Presenters Emerging Leaders Institute and tries to stay abreast of the field through networks such as APAP, Arts Midwest, Plains Presenters Consortium, and Major University Presenters. She has also been involved on campus by participating in groups such as the University Association of Administrative Professionals and UNL Wellness Ambassadors. Amy is looking forward to working with the IAS team to bring rich arts experiences to the UNL campus and greater community.
Lisa Maurer
Program Assistant, Interdisciplinary Arts Symposium
Lisa Maurer is a Ph.D. candidate in the History Department, specializing in French-American relations, cultural diplomacy, and tourism studies. She received her Bachelor’s degree in English Literature from Allegheny College, Pennsylvania, followed by a Master’s degree in American Studies from the University of Wyoming and a Master’s degree in French Civilization from Middlebury College, Vermont. Lisa is a flutist and a singer, and she has performed with one of the UNL choral ensembles for the last five years. She also serves as a student docent at the Sheldon Museum of Art in Lincoln, Nebraska.