Graduate Students
Samit Sinha 
Jackson Goode 
Jill Hughes 
Cecily Hughes 
Yonathan Levia 
Isabel Ruiz Cano 
Matthew Blanchard 
Abby Clark 
Samuel Nehila 
John White 
Julia Bender 
Andy Bowers 
Simone Cambridge Interests: transatlantic slavery, diasporic identity, postcolonialism, and race in visual culture and curatorial theory
Yi-Lin Cheng 
Nicholas Dahle Interests: Chinese ink painting and ceramics, Buddhist art, Japanese art, architecture and garden design
Elizabeth Ezekiel Elizabeth (she/her) is a MA student from northern Massachusetts with a major in European art and a minor in art of the African diaspora. Elizabeth's recent publications include the catalogue essay accompanying the 2022 exhibition The Ground We Stand On at the Anderson Gallery in Bridgewater, MA, which examined the liveliness of the wooden fence panel collages done by the contemporary artist Lavett Ballard. Her research interests include feminist theory, maternalism, and bodies as symbols of domination and submission in colonialist art.
Lawrence Gianangeli Lawrence Gianangeli (he/him) is a second year MA student. His academic interest is on the early-modern Mediterranean, with a focus on the art and culture of Renaissance Italy.
Minna Heaton Major: Ancient Roman
Minor: Undecided
Roya Peighambarzadeh Roya Peighambarzadeh (she/her) is a second-year Master’s Candidate in the History of Art and Architecture department at UMass. Specializing in Islamic and Iranian art, her academic focus spans from ancient traditions to modern and contemporary practices. She earned her B.A. in Graphic Design, as well as a minor in Art History, from the University of Science and Culture in Tehran in 2019.
Piper Prolago Interests: art in public spaces, monuments and the commemorative landscape, critical pedagogy, postcolonialism, race in visual culture
Annie Sollinger 
Olivia White Art Journal: Bronze Head of a Black Woman
Olivia White (she/her) is a first year MA student focusing on French modernism and the Africa diaspora as seen through a feminist lens. Her recent publication in Art Journal, “Bronze Head of a Black Woman: Renaming and Reframing a Brâncuși Series," illustrates her interests in deconstructing the colonialist art historical canon, renaming racist artworks, and uncovering identities of anonymized subjects.
Anita Zia 