National Board members at the National Conference in Chicago in March 2006 (photo: Carlos Diaz)

Elected Board Members Bios and Statements

2006 Board Members:
Ruth Adams
Steven J. Bliss
Joann Brennan
Shauna Church
Rebecca Cummins
Carlos Diaz
Cass Fey, Secretary
Tom Fischer
Richard Gray, Vice Chair
Elizabeth Greenberg
Mark Klett
Lawrence McFarland
Valerie Mendoza
Therese Mulligan, Treasurer
William Tolan
Terri Warpinski, Chair

(All board members are elected for four-year terms. Nominations for board members are due in May to the national office. Elections take place in the fall. The election of board members is staggered, so each year some board members roll off the board while new members are elected. Roll off schedule)

RUTH ADAMS

Ruth Adams is an artist and educator, and has been an assistant professor of Photography and Digital Art at the University of Kentucky since the fall of 2000. She has been involved in SPE since 1998 and has been the treasurer for the Midwest Region for the last three years. Her work deals with issues of intimacy and privacy, approaching these issues through both self-portraiture and still life. She is best known for startling portraits of organics and loves combining new imaging technologies with the traditional sensibilities of a photographer. Ruth has exhibited nationally and internationally, won numerous awards and grants, and her photographs hang in numerous private and public collections such as Centro Cultural Pablo de la Torriente Brau, Ciudad de la Habana, Cuba, The Contemporary Art Museum of ZULIA, MACZUL, Maracaibo, Venezuela, the Robert A. Peck Arts Center, Riverton, Wyoming, the University of Kentucky, Truman State University, and the University of Miami. She holds an MFA in Photography and Digital Art from the University Of Miami, a BFA in Photography from Rochester Institute of Technology, and a BS in Computer Science from Syracuse University. An experienced photographer, digital artist, and educator, Ruth has developed a reputation as a dynamic instructor and an innovative artist, and has enjoyed introducing students and patrons of the arts to the world of digital applications and traditional photographic possibilities.

I have been involved in SPE since my first year of graduate school. Initially, as a new photography student, taking advantage of the incredible learning experience of having my work reviewed by amazing photographers who could give me fresh vision on where my work was headed. Then later, by taking advantage of the wonderful opportunities to network, interview and job-hunt. Right from the start I found the organization and the conferences invaluable. Since graduating in 1999 I have continually increased my involvement in SPE. I have served in the Mentor program for graduating MFAs, have presented at the last two Midwest Regional conferences and been a portfolio reviewer for the last two National conferences. In addition, I have served as the Midwest Regional Treasurer for the last three years. Having degrees in Computer Science, Photojournalism and Fine Art Photography gives me multiple perspectives and this will help me bring to the board concerns from many of SPE’s diverse constituents. Also, being only 6 years out of graduate school allows me to be cognizant of both student and faculty issues and therefore will allow me to make sure we are addressing and servicing both groups. SPE is an invaluable, living organization that has grown and changed dramatically over its lifetime. I would like to be a part of the group that helps it to remain stable through the inevitable growing pains of this new digital age and helps plan for its diversification and exponential growth with the welcome addition of new media and video artists. It is my wish to take my involvement with SPE to another level through contributing my ideas and perspectives as a member of the national board.

STEVEN J. BLISS

Steven J. Bliss is an artist and educator currently residing in Savannah, GA. There he is the chair of the photography department at the Savannah College of Art and Design. Shown nationally and internationally, Steve’s personal work has received recognition in the field from groups and organizations including Polaroid Corp., the Georgia Arts Council, the Southern Arts Federation and the NEA. He has been involved with SPE for the last 20 years; for the past 4 years he has served the organization as a member of the board of directors. During his tenure there he co-chaired the Savannah national conference in 2001 and he now chairs the Service to the Field Committee.

I believe that in the last five years the national board and executive officers have worked very hard to bring maturity and purpose to a (relatively) loosely structured organization that has had the occasional lapse of continuity and institutional memory. Directly relevant to that is the fact that retaining professional people in key positions has been a constant struggle. However, we have seen good progress on this issue and it should be our goal (in my opinion) to continue that progress to the point that SPE functions in ways that go beyond our yearly regional and national meetings. I think the membership of the board has been remarkably united toward that end. Further, I believe that the Services to the Field Committee is a wonderfully apropos place to work on said goal, to affect the future of the organization in a manner that will be positive and beneficial for the membership as a whole. For these reasons, I would appreciate very much the opportunity to return to the board this spring. This is said with the obvious acknowledgement that I have yet to accomplish all that I have desired to do in this context. However, with four more years and a deity or two on our side, who knows what may be possible!
(Source: SPE Election Slate 2004)

JOANN BRENNAN

Joann Brennan is Chair of the Visual Arts Department and Associate Professor of Photography at the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center. For the past fifteen years Joann’s photographic work has explored the complex relationship between wildlife and human concerns. In the spring of 2003 Brennan was named a Fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation. Before arriving in Denver Joann taught photography and digital imaging at The School of Art and Design/Alfred University in Alfred, New York and Princeton University in New Jersey. She is an active member of the Society for Photographic Education, serving on committees for the national board and participating in regional conferences. Joann was co-founder of Progetto Perugia, a studio art program in Perugia Italy. She received her BFA and MFA from the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston, MA. Selected exhibitions and publications include, International Fototage, Contemporary American Photography, Mannheim/Ludwigshafen, Germany, Paradise Paved, Painted Bride Art Center, Philadelphia, PA, Princeton University Art Museum, Center for Photography at Woodstock New York, European Photography Magazine and Photo Review.

During the keynote address at the 2005 SPE conference in Portland Oregon, Barry Lopez asked us all to consider the meaning of citizenship, charity and devotion to ones work in our roles as artists, scholars educators and professionals in artistic fields. As I sat at the edge of my seat breathing in every word of that keynote address I was reminded again of what a terrific and vital organization SPE is. SPE has helped to define and expand the role of photography and media arts in contemporary culture while inspiring critical dialogue that has shaped artistic education both nationally and internationally. I first joined SPE over 15 years ago when I was in graduate school studying photography and since that time I have attended national and regional conferences across the country. I have served as the chair, secretary and treasurer of the northeast and southwest region. I have served as a committee member on the conference committee and portfolio review committee for the Las Vegas national conference. I have given panel presentations and imagemaker talks for many national and regional SPE conferences. In the fall of 2004 I co-chaired a very successful and exciting regional conference titled “The Educated Eye” for the southwest region. I am an enthusiastic supporter of the goals and mission of SPE and believe that as an organization SPE inspires citizenship, charity and devotion to one’s work. I would welcome an opportunity to be elected to the National Board and would work with great enthusiasm to ensure an exciting future for the organization and help to create fantastic opportunities and experiences for SPE members.

SHAUNA CHURCH

Shauna Church is a photographic artist and educator in New York City. She was the founding director for The International Center of Photography Digital Media Program and Lab Facility in 1996. Shauna has been involved with the International Center of Photography for 16 years, teaching both darkroom and digital classes, in both the graduate and continuing education programs as a staff and faculty member. She continues to contribute to the development of both ICP programs, as well as teaching at The New School University/Parson’s School of Art, NYU/Tisch School of Art, School of Visual Arts, Maine Photographic Workshops and Santa Fe Photographic Workshops. Shauna is currently digital director of Pointlight Digital, a rental digital studio where photographers can both learn digital techniques, edit and style bodies of work and produce archival digital prints. Shauna’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, and she has received numerous grants and awards. She is a highly regarded educator and has been involved with SPE since 1983.

For the past three years, it has been my privilege to work on a national and local level of SPE. I have served in multiple capacities, the most recent as secretary of SPENE, working with the national office to revitalize the northeast region. Of great interest to me is the forum that SPE provides for meaningful conversations about photography and our changing field for professionals and students, as well as, educators. The national board has worked very hard in these last few years to bring us together both financially and spiritually and has stimulated new interest and involvement for the members. It is important that we continue in this vein to encourage and support the all members by providing opportunities for both personal and career development. As an early practitioner of digital technology, I have had dialogues with many members in the last few years, which I hope to continue as this field becomes more important to all members of the photographic community. I am honored to be nominated to the national board and would consider it a privilege to continue the efforts of the current board in the creative and educational aspects of photography. (Source: SPE Election Slate 2005)

REBECCA CUMMINS

Rebecca Cummins has exhibited installations widely in Australia, Europe and the US and has received numerous grants and awards, including a six-month residency in London through the Australia Council of the Arts. She is a graduate of the University of Northern Iowa and the University of New Mexico and is currently Assistant Professor at the University of Washington in Seattle. Previously she was Senior Lecturer in Photography and Coordinator of Media Arts, Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney, NSW, Australia. In addition to extensive academic administrative experience, Rebecca has enjoyed involvement on the Board of Directors of Artspace (a federally and state-funded contemporary gallery in Sydney) and the Australian Network of Art and Technology, and as a founding member of New Media Forum, Sydney. She has taught and lectured in numerous educational institutions in Europe (especially the UK), the US and Australia.

SPE has significantly affected my sense of community and professional awareness—from early student days to the occasions when I was able to touch base during the years I lived in Australia. So, it’s time to give back. I can contribute as both an educator and practicing artist familiar with a range of international settings. I also would bring experience and appreciation of photographic practice as it pertains to installation and multi-media practice, both contemporary and historically. My Doctoral thesis, Necro Techno: Examples from an Archeology of Media, has expanded my fascination with 18/19th century media technologies (especially optical devices) and absurd (but important!) narratives, especially for their potential intersections with contemporary issues and practice.
(Source: SPE Election Slate 2003)

CARLOS DIAZ

Carlos Diaz, lives in Brighton, Michigan, 45 minutes from Detroit where he is currently a Professor and former chairman of the Photography Department (1994-2000) at the College for Creative Studies. He has taught at Bowling Green State University, The University of Michigan, School of Art and for the past 18 years at the College for Creative Studies. Carlos received his BFA from the College for Creative Studies and his MFA degree from the University of Michigan where he was mentored by Phil Davis. Before his formal studies in the arts, he was a mechanical designer and draftsman in numerous capacities. Carlos has been the recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, The Ford Foundation, NEA Arts Midwest, The Polaroid Corporation and the Michigan Council for the Arts. His work is represented by the Sarah Morthland Gallery, New York City and Photoeye Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico. In the past year and in both venues, he has had one person exhibitions of his Invented Landscape work. He was one of fifty photographers selected to exhibit at the Houston Center for Photography in the 20th Anniversary Exhibition during Foto-Fest 2002. He has recently shown work at the Museum of the City of New York, the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Visual Studies Workshop, Rochester, New York, among others.

SPE is matched by no other organization in the world in terms of advocating for more effective and meaningful photographic education, supporting photography as a vital means of visual communication and nurturing the next generation of professionals in the field. I will strive to continue the positive efforts that have already been initiated by so many others. If elected, I intend to work with passion and commit myself to the openness that has developed within a diverse community like that at SPE. Since 1983 SPE has been an important resource for me to grow as an educator, artist and member of a greater global community. I will work to provide these same opportunities for students and other young photographers looking to further themselves, as well as advocate for the high standards of image making, dialogue, and critical discourse we have come to expect on both a regional and national level. I understand the degree of commitment necessary and importance placed on those who serve in this position, as well as their responsibility for initiating and facilitating the needs of a national organization. It would be an honor to serve the membership in this capacity.
(Source: SPE Election Slate 2003)

CASS FEY

Cass Fey has been curator of education at the Center for Creative Photography, located at the University of Arizona, for the past ten years. Her love of photography started in the darkroom as an undergraduate studio and art history major at the University of New Hampshire and, while in graduate school, she relished passing that enthusiasm on to middle and high school students. Today, as a museum educator, she uses the center’s galleries and print viewing area as classrooms to encourages, faculty, students and the general public to explore the infinitely enriching ways in which artists communicate their ideas through photography. This experience continues to broaden her understanding of the history, applications and possibilities of photography as a medium of creative expression.

She mentors students in the fields of photography, art history and museum education and recently facilitated a showing of advanced photography student work at the center. She has been an active member of SPE, serving on the Publications Committee from 1998-2002. She has presented talks and moderated panels at every national conference since 1999 and has offered additional sessions at Southwest regional conferences. At SPE 2002 - Las Vegas she moderated a panel discussion on the Garry Winogrand Game of Photography and at SPE 2003 - Austin she gave an overview of Lauren Greenfield’s Girl Culture, an exhibition and book project for which she created a comprehensive electronic faculty guide. This educational resource is part of her series of online faculty guides that invite educators across the curriculum to introduce their students to the work of Lisette Model, Aaron Siskind, Max Yavno, Ansel Adams, Hansel Mieth, Otto Hagel, Danny Lyon, Lynn Davis, Tseng Kwong Chi and Debby Fleming Caffery, among others. She served on the organization committee for the 1999 national conference in Tucson and also co-presented a session on Writing and Photography with her frequent collaborator, the head of the Honors College Composition Program at the University of Arizona. She is a member of the National Art Education Association, has presented several sessions at their national conferences and published the instructional resource, Examining the Art of Photography, in their professional journal in 2002. She is interested in serving on the SPE board because she greatly values the organization’s resources and network of talented individuals throughout the field and she would like to contribute her experience as a teacher, museum educator, program facilitator and student mentor. If elected, she would bring the unique perspective of using museums and original photographic works as educational tools to her active participation in the leadership of SPE.
(Source: SPE Election Slate 2004)

TOM FISCHER

Since earning his MFA at Stanford University in 1987, Tom Fischer has been a teacher and an artist. He is currently a professor of photography and department chair at the Savannah College of Art and Design. Tom has also served as dean of the school of media arts where he managed the academic operations of eight departments with more than 70 professors and 2200 students. His work is held in numerous public and private collections and has been shown in more than 60 exhibitions in galleries and museums in the U.S., Europe and Asia. Tom has received numerous honors for his work, but he is most proud of the collaborative educational, environmental, and community projects that he has organized in recent years. They include historic preservation and documentary projects in the U.S. and Europe, photo management for the Olympic Games, and photo documentation of environmental issues in the western states. His creative teaching and collaborative educational projects have resulted in three nominations for the CASE, US Professor of the Year. Tom has been a member of SPE since 1985.

The Society for Photographic Education is my favorite organization. It has provided my students and me with information, resources and inspiration. I now find myself in a position to contribute time and energy to the institution that I have enjoyed so much in the past 20 years. If given the privilege to serve on the board I can only promise a positive attitude and a willingness to work as many hours as it takes to achieve the goals of the membership. I do have significant skills in administration that will be valuable as the SPE enters what I see as a period of refinement and growth. I envision opportunities for enhanced intra- and interorganizational communication, expansion of the SPE’s advocacy for education and the arts, redefinition of the nature of student membership, and development of new programs. I commend the current leadership of the SPE for the positive direction of the organization. The society functions well as a gathering place for the exchange of ideas on the various significant topics of teaching, history, theory, and practice. We are on the right track and I would like to be elected to the board to put my creative organizational skills to good use.

DIANA GASTON

Diana Gaston, Associate Director of San Francisco Camerawork, joined their staff in summer of 2001. She oversees the Programming Committee, contributes to the curatorial direction of the organization, assists with grant writing and in the production and editing of the organization’s publication Camerawork: A Journal of Photographic Arts. Her previous museum experience of more than a decade includes her tenure as Curator at the Museum of Photographic Arts in San Diego and as Curator of Prints and Photographs at the University Art Museum at the University of New Mexico. She has organized numerous museum exhibitions, including the nationally traveling “Abelardo Morell and the Camera Eye,” “Susan Rankaitis: Drawn from Science,” “In Studio: Han Nguyen,” and “Still Rooms & Excavations: An Installation by Richard Barnes.” She has published numerous exhibition catalogues, and regularly writes exhibition reviews and contributes to artist monographs. She received her M.A. in Art History from the University of Kansas, and had curatorial internships at the National Museum of American Art and the Walker Art Center.

The mission of SF Camerawork is to stimulate dialogue, encourage inquiry, and communicate ideas about contemporary photography and related technologies through exhibitions, publications, and innovative artistic programs. Like the objectives of SPE, our curatorial objectives center around the work of emerging and mid-career artists, and our programs reflect this interest in new photography. In my curatorial role I am actively seeking underrepresented and emerging artists; and by serving on the SPE Board, I would have a much greater opportunity to locate and represent work by promising young artists and writers. As an artist-run organization, Camerawork has always aligned itself with the photographic community, serving as a forum and a training ground for photographers and curators. I would be very interested in building upon this service by serving on the national SPE Board.
(Source: SPE Election Slate 2002)

RICHARD GRAY

Richard Gray is an Associate Professor of Photography and Director of Graduate Studies for the Department of Art, Art History & Design at the University of Notre Dame. For the past ten years Richard’s artwork has investigated photographic constructs of human identity with an emphasis on the role science plays in redefining the contemporary self. His current project Human Factors was first inspired by the US Government's Human Genome Project and the implications the “sub-visible” image would have on the terrain of photographic practice. Richard has had numerous exhibitions of his photographs throughout the United States for twenty years. Human Factors was recently exhibited at University of the Arts, Philadelphia and University of Western Georgia. Group exhibitions include Synesthesia: The Next Generation in Art, Wood Street Gallery, Chicago; Digital Hybrids, McDonough Museum of Art, Youngstown, Ohio and scheduled this spring Essence: Matter/Science/Photography at Eyedrum, Atlanta. He has received regional fellowships from Arts Midwest/National Endowment for the Arts and the Indiana Arts Commission. Richard Gray received his MFA degree from the Rochester Institute of Technology in 1982.

For nearly four decades, SPE has been a premier organization dedicated to fostering the creative and intellectual development of photographers, artists and educators. Photographic practice has evolved dramatically during this time to encompass all visual arts, including many new interdisciplinary approaches, technologies and theoretical positions. SPE has responded with initiatives and programming that have addressed many of these concerns. As a national board member I am interested in seeing that SPE continue to be a vital forum for all the varied perspectives on photographic image-making that have made it so successful. Our organization should reflect the diverse community of professionals and students that it serves. I am also interested in working to expand SPE’s constituency to include other artists who work with photographs, enlarging the dialogue of how camera-based images can function within the larger context of the visual arts. Photographic education too has changed and it will be important for us to continue to debate the ways we come to educate our students in an ever-changing visual and technological culture. I have participated in SPE for about 20 years during which time I have been both a regional and national conference presenter, portfolio reviewer and peer reviewer for the 2002 Las Vegas conference. Over the years I have come to value greatly both the friends I have made at SPE and the creative individuals that have inspired me in this organization. I would very much enjoy serving the SPE membership and will work hard to contribute to our future. See you in Austin!
(Source: SPE Election Slate 2003)

ELIZABETH GREENBERG

Elizabeth Greenberg is an artist, teacher and an administrator living in Thomaston, Maine. She has been the director of photography programs at The Maine Photographic Workshops and Rockport College since 2000, and an instructor in both the undergraduate and graduate programs at the college. Elizabeth received her BFA in Photography from Rhode Island School of Design. Following undergraduate school, she spent her first summer in Maine at The Workshops, thus beginning a long-term relationship. After serving as his teaching assistant one summer, Arnold Newman hired Elizabeth as his assistant and studio manager. Elizabeth worked for Mr. Newman in New York for a number of years. Elizabeth went on to assist a number of other well-known photographers in New York and to work in the commercial world on her own.

Elizabeth began teaching photography in 1994. This experience inspired her to pursue a career in arts education. In 1998, Elizabeth returned to graduate school and was awarded an MFA in Visual Arts from Vermont College in 2000. In addition to teaching summer workshops and courses in photography and professional development at Rockport College, Elizabeth has also taught at The New School for Social Research, NYC, The Baum School of Art, Allentown, PA and Lafayette College, Easton, PA.

As a practicing artist, Elizabeth has exhibited across the United States. Last year she curated a traveling exhibit Alternative Visions and this September she will be part of a group show at the Mills Gallery at the Boston Center for the Arts. Her work involves ideas concerning memory and our relationship to the past, particularly our tendencies to idealize or to romanticize it. In her photographs, she transforms ordinary places into imaginary landscapes with fictionalized histories.

Elizabeth first became involved with SPE when she attended the national conference in Dallas in 1997. She has attended the national conference nearly every year since and became a member of SPE in 2000. Believing firmly in the philosophy and mission of SPE, Elizabeth has become increasingly more involved in its work. She chaired the 2003 SPE northeast regional conference held in Rockport, Maine.

As a member of the national board for SPE, Elizabeth would bring her boundless energy, strong organizational skills, and her dedication and commitment to the fields of photography and education. She is very interested in expanding the SPE community, keeping the organization infused with new members, and involving students in the organization and its various programs. She is also interested in helping to develop a stronger structure and basis for the communication of ideas and the sharing of photographic work.
(Source: SPE Election Slate 2005)

MARK KLETT

Mark Klett is Regents’ Professor of Art at Arizona State University and has served on the SPE Board since 1999. Professional information: Active 25 years in the field with one man and group shows at national and international venues including large museums, regional and local non-profits and university spaces. Nine books authored and/or co-authored including Second View, the Rephotographic Survey Project; Revealing Territory; Desert Legends; and most recently The Black Rock Desert. Subject of the book View Finder: Mark Klett, Photography, and the Reinvention of Landscape. Awards include three NEA Fellowships, the Buhl Foundation Award, and Photographer of the Year from the Friends of Photography. Work collected by over 60 museum and public collections. Past experience includes service to non-profit boards and arts commissions both national and regional, and a long list of workshops and public lectures. SPE member since 1977.

It has been my privilege to serve one term on the SPE Board, most recently as Vice Chair. This has been an excellent, hard working board that works well as a team. My reason for seeking another term has to do with several items of unfinished business: I think I can contribute ideas and experience to board projects that are continuing. Specifically I would like to work towards the creation of an SPE Foundation. I feel a separate but affiliated non-profit foundation may help realize some of SPE’s long-term goals including fundraising, sponsorship of special projects, scholarships for students, curriculum development, assisting programs from high school to post graduate, and many others. I am also interested in helping the board visualize the changing nature of our membership, and searching for new and innovative ways to serve our needs.

I believe SPE is an invaluable resource as a community of peers, and that its constituency is expanding. As a teacher, I realize my students need what SPE has to offer now more than ever, and see a call to recruit the future leadership of our organization. I also want to help reach those past members who are considering rejoining our organization. It is a good time for SPE to expand and I’d like to contribute my experience and commitment to the effort.
(Source: SPE Election Slate 2003)

LAWRENCE MCFARLAND

I received my BFA degree in photography from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1973. I then attended the University of Nebraska, working with Jim Alinder and received a MFA in 1976. Since that time I have worked at nearly every possible institution trying to continue my process of making photographs. I have taught at a two-year “Associate Degree” institution (Colorado Mountain College), at a workshop (Apeiron Workshop), as a “Visiting Artist/Teacher” (Kansas City Art Institute), adult education (University of Arizona) and finally a tenured teaching job since 1985 at the University of Texas. I have also been honored to receive three National Endowment for the Arts fellowships over three decades, 1978-79, 1984-85 and 1990-91. I continue to make photographs and in fact I am writing this from the field in Wyoming as I make new work during the hot summer of 2003. I have also been fortunate with other grants and projects over the years. I have talked to and made friends to many great people over the years and this process forever blesses me. I continue to make landscape images of how we, as a culture, nurture our planet. I continue to be in awe of the world and the beauty/power of how powerful this responsibility of life continues to be day after day.

“I am a photographer, it is my job, it is what I do and it is my passion. Being a photographer is a very difficult but important job. It has always been magic to me. Photography can lift you to the clouds or slam you head first into the ground. I cannot think of anything else that I would rather do.” I attended my first SPE conference in 1970 at the University of Iowa. It was in conjunction with Refocus which took place at the university. I was so excited to find so many other people in the country as passionate about photography as I am, that I just keep coming back year after year. After attending many SPE conference’s, I took on the responsibility of chairing the 2003 Austin conference, American Vision. We have grown larger as a committed group year after year. We do not always agree with one another but it is the love of photography that keeps bringing us together. I am interested in securing an endowment for SPE so we, as a group, can continue to support each other, grow into the future and change as the media demands. I am also very interested in setting up a guide for future conference chairs of the national conference. I will always respect and represent the members of SPE to make this a better organization for everyone.
(Source: SPE Election Slate 2004)

VALERIE MENDOZA

Valerie Mendoza is a photo-based multimedia artist, writer and educator. She received an MFA from the California College of Arts and Crafts in 1995, and a BFA from San Jose State University in 1992. Her current term on the National Board of SPE began in 1999. She was a West Regional board member from 1993 to 1996. She has presented at SPE National and Regional Conferences a number of times, most recently last spring in Las Vegas, (“Roaming the Shadow Side: Performative Spaces; Virtual Immersion”). From 1997-1999 she was a Visiting Professor at the San Francisco Art Institute and the University of California, Santa Cruz. She has been an Assistant Professor with the University of Florida since 2000. She has exhibited nationally. Her work investigates the interaction between history, memory, media and language, using photographic, video, digital, and audio information. With it, she offers both scientific and irrational explanations for natural and unnatural phenomena.

My involvement with SPE began 11 years ago when I worked as a student volunteer at the 1991 Western Regional Conference. Since that time I have served as a Regional board member, presented at Regional and National conferences across the country, and served on the National Board where I am now seeking re-election. In recent years, it has been a very gratifying experience to see the resurgence of strong student involvement, to welcome new members in, and to see so many familiar faces returning. Though I have played a relatively small role in the revitalization of SPE, I like to think I understand why we have been successful. We've worked as a board to create an environment of inclusion rather than exclusion. We’ve found ways to invite and support student participation. We have focused our energies on what we believe to be the strength of our organization: our diversity. The message seems to be getting out. Thanks to the involvement of all of you, SPE is alive and well.

For the past three years I have worked on the publications committee. Under the direction of Kathleen Campbell, we have worked to bring higher quality, engaging content, and a consistent schedule back to our journal. As a non-profit organization with a small operating budget, exposure represents a continuing challenge, but one I consider to be very worthwhile. I guest edited the recent “Writing and Photography” issue of exposure. I’ve also worked as a member of the Nominations Committee, and I’m currently chairing the Student Scholarship Committee. For the future, I believe SPE will continue to strengthen and redefine itself by addressing the diverse needs and interests of a community both invested in respect for tradition, and committed to an environment where new issues, technological advances, and ethical questions critical to media related to photography are not only welcomed, but highly valued as the necessary life’s blood of any organization that hopes to remain vital and relevant. I value the community that SPE creates, and I would welcome the opportunity to continue to work with all of you.
(Source: SPE Election Slate 2003)

THERESE MULLIGAN

In July 2003, Therese Mulligan joined the faculty at Rochester Institute of Technology, as a professor in the School of Photographic Arts and Sciences. She is coordinator of the institute’s MFA program in Imaging Arts and director of the School’s Gallery. Previous to this appointment, Therese served as the curator of photography at George Eastman House for eight years and continues to contribute to the museum’s exhibition and publication projects. She has organized numerous exhibitions, as well as authored and edited articles and publications on historical and contemporary photography, including The Architect’s Brother: The Photography of Robert ParkeHarrison (2002); Digital Frontiers: Photography’s Future at Nash Editions (2000); and the upcoming 2004 traveling exhibition and publication Site Seeing: Photographic Excursions into Tourism.

For the past three years, it has been my privilege to participate on the national board of SPE. I have served in multiple capacities, the most recent as Treasurer, working with the board to ensure the future financial health and growth of our organization. Today, with a balanced budget in hand, SPE’s future is both bright and flourishing. As a curator, historian and educator, my board involvement has enabled me to further my skills, while deepening my commitment to enlarging the extraordinary activities of our organization. With enhanced outreach, programs and, most importantly, increased service, SPE strengthens its role as the critical forum for photography in its myriad of forms. Uniquely, it supports the educational needs of the professional and student alike, providing one-of-a-kind opportunities for personal and career development. It would be an honor to continue to contribute to the all-important role SPE plays in our creative and educational pursuits as a member of the national board.
(Source: SPE Election Slate 2004)

WILLIAM TOLAN

William Tolan’s work has been widely exhibited and is included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Fogg Art Museum, the Milwaukee Museum of Art, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, among others. He received his Bachelors of Fine Arts in Photography from New York University and his Masters of Fine Arts from Arizona State University; he currently teaches at Austin Community College and St. Edward's University and serves on the Board of Directors of the Texas Photographic Society. Tolan was the Assistant Director of The Light Factory in Charlotte, North Carolina, and a photo editor in New York City. He has taught extensively. A complete résumé can be viewed online at williamtolan.com. Tolan recently coordinated and moderated the panel discussion entitled “The New Workflow: Educational Institutions Transitioning to Digital” at SPE's National Conference in Portland, Oregon, and was a portfolio reviewer there as well.

We are currently going through tremendous changes in the making and teaching of photography. SPE can be an important resource for all of us as we make the transition from traditional to digital photography. I've been a member of SPE for over 15 years, and even before that an issue of exposure inspired and informed my becoming a teacher of photography: the 1980 Fall & Winter special double issue on education. I believe the national and regional conferences of SPE are vital to the organization’s mission and interaction with its constituents. But SPE has a broader reach, both nationally and internationally, through its publications and website. SPE’s website, especially, should serve as a larger resource in our efforts to be the best educators and students we can be in these changing times. If elected to serve on the Board, I will focus my main efforts on helping grow both exposure and spenational.org. My experiences with other non-profit organizations have made me acutely aware of the importance of development; therefore, I will also join in efforts to establish an SPE Foundation that would ensure good fiscal health through lean times and encourage growth. Through the years SPE has been an inspiration to me, a source of community. It would be an honor to be able to give back to an organization that has meant so much to me.

TERRI WARPINSKI

I began life and my education in photography in the Midwest (Green Bay, Wisconsin then on to Iowa City, Iowa). After graduate school I went to work at the University of Florida in Gainesville where I had the awesome responsibility of trying to fill in the gap left by Evon Streetman while she was on sabbatical. In 1984 I was recruited by the University of Oregon, where I have been ever since. After 14 years of full-time teaching I moved into administration. Currently I am Associate Dean of the School of Architecture and Allied Arts at the University of Oregon, administering over 8 departments and programs, 150 faculty, and 1500 students, with operations in both Portland and Eugene. It is good work…and I no longer am shy about admitting how rewarding I find it. Even through this last transition/surprise in my career track I maintain my passion and involvement in the medium. My current personal highlight is a Fulbright Fellowship to travel to Israel to contin7ue international work base on the landscape asspiritual geography.

I have been involved in SPE (in some form or another) since 1979. My direct experience bridges not only 21 years, but also three regions – the Midwest, Southeast and Northwest. My original interest in the organization was piqued under the influence of Professor Jerry Dell while still an undergrad at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. During these past conferences where I lived and additionally presented at a Southwest Regional Conference. I served as the Northwest Regional Director for 5 years in the late 80’s, and in 990 chaired one of our more successful (by numbers) regional conferences. What do I have to offer SPE? Well, I am a grassroots gal. I’ve been around. I have seen good times and bad. I am a hard worker. I am fast and loose with (usually) good ideas… and I do admit and take responsibility for the bad ones as well. And most importantly, in these last years in administration I have acquired the perspective necessary to step outside of one’s own interests/self-interest in order to work for the good of the whole.
(Source: SPE Election Slate 2001)

Board member roll-off dates

About Us
	mission statement
	SPE officers + staff
	SPE national board bios
	SPE staff bios
	national board committees
	regions
	caucuses
Governing Documents
	by-laws
	articles of incorporation
History
	founding members
	past executive committees
	past national conferences