Dr. James Haywood Rolling, Jr. is a Dual Professor of Arts Education and Teaching & Leadership at the Syracuse University’s College of Visual & Performing Arts (VPA) and School of Education. From 2018 to 2020, Rolling was appointed to serve as the inaugural Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for VPA. Dr. Rolling began his elected term of office as the 37th President of the National Art Education Association (NAEA) in March 2021 and served as the inaugural Chair of the NAEA Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Commission. At the start of 2021, Dr. Rolling also added two other new roles as the new Co-Director of The Lender Center for Social Justice at Syracuse University and as a new member of the Board of Trustees at the Everson Museum of Art.

As the coordinator for K-12 New York State art teacher education programs at Syracuse University, Dr. Rolling has actively worked to reconceptualize the arts education discipline as a natural nexus of interdisciplinary scholarship where visual art, design, STEAM, and other media arts practices emerge as an avenue for social responsibility. As a visual artist, he focuses on mixed-media explorations and portraiture of the human condition, viewing studio art practices as an essential form of social research. As a researcher and author, he is devoted to telling the story of how human beings creatively constitute, shape, and reinterpret personal and collective identity.

Dr. Rolling holds an Ed.D in Art Education from Teachers College, Columbia University, and an MFA in Experimental Studios from Syracuse University. 

Dr. Kelli Morgan is a Professor of the Practice and the inaugural Director of Curatorial Studies at Tufts University. A curator, educator, and social justice activist specializing in American art and visual culture, Dr. Morgan's scholarly commitment to investigating anti-blackness within those fields has demonstrated how traditional art history and museum practice work specifically to uphold white supremacy.    

Besides her own curatorial experience, Dr. Morgan mentors emerging curators and regularly trains staff at various museums to foster anti-racist approaches in collection building, exhibitions, community engagement, and fundraising. Over the past year, Dr. Morgan has become a leading and influential voice in bolstering anti-racist work in art museums. She has held curatorial positions at the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields, the Birmingham Museum of Art, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and teaching positions at Wayne State University, the University of Michigan, and the Tyler School of Art at Temple University.

Dr. Morgan earned her Ph.D. in Afro-American studies and a graduate certificate in Public History–Museum studies from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.