Biography

Ashley Beatty (b. 1983) is an environmental photographer and educator whose transdisciplinary practice explores the intersection of ecological consciousness and artistic expression. Recently moved to Waterville, Ohio.

Beatty holds a BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art (2019). Her research-driven work—recognized with the Larson Award (2018)—includes collaboration with Smithsonian biologists investigating forest ecosystems and interspecies communication networks. Beatty's photography has been exhibited internationally, including presentations at the Louvre (Paris), and venues in Edenton, NC and Detroit, MI; she has also lectured in Beijing and taught in Shanghai (2019).

Residencies at OxBow (Saugatuck, MI), Plyspace (Muncie, IN), and the Peanut Factory (Edenton, NC) have further shaped their practice, alongside teaching at the University of Saint Francis and Purdue Fort Wayne and curatorial work as gallerist at Bread and Circus Art Gallery & Artist Residency Program. She is currently the associate professor and area head of photography at Bowling Green State Univeristy.

Statement of Intent

As an educator, I'm committed to a mentorship-focused approach that centers student agency, uses structured rotating critique, and connects classroom learning to professional practice—helping emerging image-makers bring technical rigor, critical theory, and community-engaged exhibition work into conversation.

SPE has been an important intellectual home for me for the last decade, offering a place where critical dialogue, pedagogical innovation, and creative kinship meet. In recent years, my work in higher education and community arts administration has underscored how essential it is to build sustainable, cross-collaborative infrastructures. As a board member, I would draw on my experience in program coordination, conference planning, and marketing to expand access, strengthen institutional partnerships, and increase year-round value for members—especially through hybrid programming, mentorship networks, and accessibility-forward initiatives for educators, students, and practitioners at every career stage.

I would be honored to bring my energy, leadership, and commitment to lens-based media to SPE, helping sustain an inclusive, resilient, and forward-looking community for photographic education.

Biography

Marcus DeSieno is a visual artist whose work interrogates institutions of power through the language and materiality of photography. His practice  focuses on documenting the enduring legacies of American empire, surveillance, and how visual technology is used as a tool of oppression by the State. DeSieno often uses experimental and historic analog photographic processes to create conversations between power and history. He is Assistant Professor of Photography at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida. DeSieno's work has been exhibited nationally and internationally at the Aperture Foundation in New York, Paris Photo, The Benaki Museum in Athens, Greece, The Finnish Museum of Photography in Helsinki, Finland, and various other galleries and museums. His work has also been featured in a variety of publications including The British Journal of Photography, The Boston Globe, GUP Magazine, Hyperallergic, HuLington Post, National Geographic, PDN, Slate, Smithsonian Magazine, The Washington Post, and Wired. His first monograph, No Man's Land: Views From a Surveillance State, was published by Daylight Books.

Statement of Intent

I have been a member of SPE for 17 years and served for over five years in leadership roles as both Chair and Treasurer of the Northwest Chapter. This community has been deeply important to me as both an artist and educator. The colleagues, friends, and mentors I have met through SPE have challenged and supported me, helped me grow, and shaped the way I think about photography. I want to serve on the board as a way of giving back to an organization that has given me so much as we work together to help define the future of photographic education. With my background in nonprofit management and years in higher education, I believe I can bring both practical experience and a strong understanding of the challenges we face in keeping this organization inclusive, relevant, and responsive to the changing needs of photographic educators, artists, and students today.

Biography

Todd Dobbs is a Denver-based conceptual artist whose work bridges traditional and contemporary practices. He holds a BFA from the Ohio State University and an MFA from the University of Colorado. Currently, he serves as an Associate Professor of Photography at the Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design (RMCAD). Through his practice, Dobbs explores the dynamic interplay between historical photographic techniques and emerging technologies, including AI, creating art that challenges conventional boundaries and fosters innovation.

Statement of Intent

I joined SPE and attended my first conference in 1998. Now, almost 30 years later, I am honored to be nominated for a position on the National Board of Directors. This moment presents a perfect opportunity to give back to the organization that has helped educate, challenge, and invigorate me throughout my career. My biggest strength is the ability to be both forward thinking while keeping one foot firmly planted in the origins of our medium. I carry this attitude with me in my teaching, research, and creative practice. If elected, my focus will be on helping SPE and its members adapt to rapidly changing technologies, both in regard to photographic materials and processes, as well as the tools we utilize as educators.

Biography

Dominique Ellis (1980) is a visual artist and researcher living in Lincoln, NE. She received an MFA in Photography in 2025 at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and she uses photography as a vehicle for storytelling, collaboration, and advocacy to document environmental, cultural, and historical change. She also holds an MFA in Printmaking from Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia, PA and Rome, Italy. Ellis was awarded a U.S. Fulbright student scholarship for Egypt, as well as an Arabic language grant for 2009-2010, and was based in Cairo, Egypt. She served as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer in Morocco, from 2006-to 2008, working for the Moroccan Ministry of Handicrafts. Currently, she is the Education and Outreach Associate at the Center for Great Plains Studies and Great Plains Art Museum in Lincoln, NE.

Statement of Intent

As a graduate student, I became involved in SPE in Denver, CO. I was welcomed by a group of professors and students from other regions of the U.S. We stayed up all night, where I listened to the oral history of photography that I knew nothing about. I was filling in the gaps of my photographic history and finding a community that I continue to learn from. My goal as a board member is to welcome newcomers and long-time conference goers alike. I am passionate about connecting people and being of service in helping support the future directions of SPE and its mission.

Over the past twenty years, I have shifted from being a student in the darkroom, to field work in Morocco, Egypt, and Italy, back to the classroom in a Philadelphia community darkroom, and finally as a formal and informal educator of photography. SPE has shaped how I see the greater photographic community and the breadth of analog and digital practices that inform new generations. I am excited to be part of this incredible organization and to find new ways to welcome and support photographic education in and out of the classroom.

Biography

Hey, my name is Josh. I'm an artist/educator based in Denver, Colorado, currently a lecturer at CU Denver. I received my BFA in Photography & Imaging from NYU Tisch School of the Arts and my MFA from Arizona State University. My work focuses on land usage, human intervention, and environmental narratives across the American West. It has been exhibited at The Museum at Texas Tech University, the Houston Center for Photography, the New Hampshire Institute of Art, and the Crooked Tree Arts Center. My work is part of the Wienerberger AG INSIGHTS Collection. Starting this September, my work will be on view at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art through next year.

Statement of Intent

I'm honored by the nomination to the board of such a fantastic organization. I started attending SPE conferences in my first year of grad school, back in 2016, and I've come away from each time invigorated by the creativity in the room and connected with new friends I look forward to seeing at future conferences. In my life, art collaboration is one of the strongest bonds I know, and building that sense of community is what draws me back to SPE year after year.

If elected, I'd like to focus on creating more avenues for community networking within SPE at the regional and local chapter levels. We live in a moment that's increasingly siloed — by technology, and by the all-the-time ennui of daily life — and I want to help this community find more ways to interact, in person and between conferences, while also growing outreach to potential new members. To grow into a stronger organization, we need to reach out to photographic educators who aren't currently involved.

This kind of programming is something I've built before. As a recent alum of NYU, I proposed and ran a critique group that provided emerging artists with a real outlet for feedback on their work. In grad school, I curated Wild/Sun, a joint exhibition between the University of Arizona and Arizona State University celebrating the strong photographic bond between the two MFA programs. I'd love to bring that same spirit of connection-building to SPE's board.

Biography

Julie Libersat (b.1981 Tiruvalla, India) is an intermedia artist and designer based in Denton, TX, where she is Assistant Professor of Art Design and Technology at Texas Woman's University. Libersat received her BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2003, an MA in Art Education in 2016, and an MFA in New Media in 2017, both from the University of North Texas. Libersat has exhibited in the US and abroad and received funding from a Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Grant, the Velma and Davis Dozier Travel Grant from the Dallas Museum of Art and served as a Co-PI on a Humanities Connections grant from the NEH. Her writing has been publishing in Studies in Art Education, online publications Techniques, and a book chapter in an edited volume published by the International Society for Education Through Art.

Statement of Intent

As a new media artist and art education scholar, the Society for Photographic Education's dual commitment to contemporary art practice and pedagogy deeply aligns with my values. I currently serve as an ex-officio member of SPE's Website Committee and bring my experiences in service leadership with the National Art Education Association's Women's Caucus as conference coordinator, and exhibition coordinator. My background in design and project management directly prepares me to support SPE's marketing, social media, and website initiatives. As a member of the board, I strive to expand SPE's reach by integrating more opportunities for emerging lens-based technologies, and new media artists into our community. I would be honored to serve on the board to strengthen our digital presence, foster interdisciplinary dialogue, and build inclusive collaborative networks for educators and practitioners

Biography

Raymond Thompson is an interdisciplinary artist, visual journalist, and educator based in Austin, Texas. He is an Assistant Professor at The University of Texas at Austin. He holds degrees from West Virginia University, The University of Texas at Austin, and the University of Mary Washington.

Working across photography, film, and documentary practice, Thompson investigates the intersections of race, memory, representation, and place within the Black environmental imagination. He is the recipient of the 2025 Society for Photographic Education Imagemaker Award, the 2023 1619 Aftermath Grant, and the 2021 Lenscratch Student Prize. His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including at the 2024 FotoFest Biennial. It is held in the collections of the Museum of Contemporary Photography, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art.

Thompson is the author of Appalachian Ghost (University Press of Kentucky, 2024) and It's Hard to Stop Rebels That Time Travel (VOID, 2025). Alongside his artistic practice, he has produced visual journalism for The New York Times, The Intercept, NPR, NBC News, Politico, ProPublica, and The Associated Press. His interdisciplinary practice employs photography, moving image, and documentary storytelling to examine how histories of race and place shape contemporary understandings of landscape, belonging, and environmental memory.

Statement of Intent

In 2019, I attended my first SPE conference during my first year as a graduate student. I quickly knew that I had found my people. I discovered a community of educators and artists that provides inspiration and support. It couldn't have come at a more critical moment in the creative journey. It opened up the world of photographic practice in ways that I did not expect.

Since then, I have remained a committed and active member of the organization. I was honored to receive the 2025 SPE Imagemaker Award and bring board leadership experience from my five-year appointment to the Texas Student Media Board. As a member of the board, I hope to give back to the organization that has shaped my development as an educator and artist by helping create the same sense of belonging, mentorship, and opportunity  that SPE provided for me.

Biography

Kari Wehrs is a photo-based artist and educator. She has a particular interest in the materiality, history, and evolving technologies of the photographic medium, and works across both contemporary and historical processes, specializing in wetplate collodion (tintypes). Her series Shot uses the tintype process to engage with contemporary American gun culture and the complicated conversations surrounding it. Kari received her MFA in Photography from Arizona State University in 2018 and has been part of the Maine Media community since 2008, where she is currently the Photography Program Chair. She is interested in the ways photography can connect people, encourage curiosity, and create space for thoughtful conversation.

Statement of Intent

I am interested in serving on the SPE Board of Directors because I believe strongly in SPE's role as a vital community for photographers, educators, artists, students, and the broader photographic field. As a photography educator, administrator, and practicing artist, I would bring a perspective grounded in both the day-to-day realities of photographic education and a deep commitment to building connections across our field. My experience in educational leadership, curriculum development, budgeting, strategic planning, faculty management, and institutional collaboration has prepared me to contribute thoughtfully to governance and organizational decision-making. I especially value collaborative leadership, active listening, consensus-building, and creating space for diverse perspectives. I'm interested in building and sustaining relationships in the field, and I would focus that energy on strengthening SPE's connections among chapters, institutions, generations, and areas of photographic practice. I am particularly interested in supporting mentorship, professional development, meaningful conference programming, and recognition of the people who contribute to our field. I would also welcome the opportunity to help SPE think creatively and strategically about the future of photographic education as technology, educational models, and definitions of photographic practice continue to evolve.