Congratulations to Our Newest Alumni! Meet the 2025 Art History Graduates

Nina Curto graduates with a Bachelor of Science degree, double majoring in Psychology and Art History. Nina has been involved in the arts since a very young age, from mixed media to music, and the diverse art history courses at FSU made her interest grow. She plans to continue to explore her passion for art and working with children combined with her expanding knowledge of therapy. During her time at FSU, Nina was a member of the FSU Marching Chiefs all four years of college where, she writes, “I found a family away from home and served on their leadership team as a Row Leader. Being in this program made my experience at FSU truly special and it will forever be apart of me.” She was also a Research Assistant in the Plant Laboratory within FSU’s Psychology Department. After graduation, Nina will begin a Master of Science in Child & Adolescent Behavioral Health with the University of South Florida in the fall of 2025.

Willow Hackett graduated summa cum laude in 2025 with a Bachelor of Arts in Art History and a minor in Museum Studies. In the fall, she will continue her studies at New York University, pursuing a Master’s in the History of Art and Archaeology at the Institute of Fine Arts. During her time at Florida State University, Willow served as president of the Undergraduate Art History Association, completed the Global Citizenship Certificate, graduated from the University Honors Program, and participated in the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program. She also completed her thesis, Beast of Burden: Medieval Interpretations of the Seven-Headed Beast in the Illustrated Beatus, with Dr. Erika Loic for Honors in the Major. Looking ahead, Willow aims to continue her research at the PhD level and pursue a career in the arts.

Tessa Mahurin completed the Bachelor of Arts in Art History and Bachelor of Science in Business Management in May 2025. During her time at FSU, Tessa was involved in the Undergraduate Art History Association, The Kudzu Review, and served as a Resident Assistant. She is excited to work as a Program Assistant for FSU Florence this summer before starting her master’s in Visual Art Administration at New York University this fall. 

During her time at FSU, Corinne Roethke participated in the Art History Department serving on the UAHA board as the Vice President. In the summer of 2024, Corinne received the Charlotte Orth Reckford Scholarship and attend the Archeological Field School at Cetamura as a docent. During the Fall of 2024, she worked at the Museum of Fine Arts on Campus as a museum intern. Following graduation, she will be continuing her education at FSU, pursuing a Master of Arts in Art History.

Anna Vincent completed the Bachelor of Arts degree in Art History. Anna’s interest in abstraction and printmaking led her to specialize in German Expressionist and early modern print studies, with a heightened curiosity for mid and post-war art. During her time at FSU, she gave her time to FSU’s Museum of Fine Arts and the Fine Arts Building gallery as a gallery assistant. After graduation, she is thrilled to continue her education at FSU in the MA Art History program in the fall of 2025

Jacqueline Cao is a first-generation college graduate and completed the Master of Arts in Museum & Cultural Heritage Studies. During her graduate studies she has interned with LeMoyne Arts and the John G. Riley Center and Museum for African American History and Culture. Jacqueline is also the recipient of the 2024–25 Patricia Rose Fellowship and is one of the 2025 Winbury Award recipients. She has served the department as a library assistant and the treasurer of the graduate student Art History Association. Jacqueline hopes to pursue a career in the museum field after graduation this spring and is passionate about fostering engaging environments in both educational and professional settings.  

Sierria Groom completed a Master of Arts degree in Art History with a focus in Museum & Cultural Heritage Studies. During her time at FSU she worked a part-time position as an Accessioning & Processing Associate in FSU Libraries Special Collections & Archives and later worked as a Graduate intern in the department. During her internship she curated the exhibit “Bump, Set, Spike: Coach Cecile Reynaud and the FSU Women’s Volleyball Team” as a method of promoting gender equity within sports archives. Sierria was recently awarded the Judith Beale Scholarship and will be attending the Society of Florida Archivist annual conference where she hopes to connect and learn more from inspiring professionals in the field of archives.

Sarah Moloney completed a Master of Arts degree in Art History with a focus in Museum and Cultural Heritage Studies. In her second year of study, she participated in a year-long internship at the John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, FL. While there, she interned with collections, archives, education, visitor research, and events. Along with Jaccie Reaves and Jessica Salaun, Sarah curated the exhibition Performing for Curiosity: Exploring Stories of Human Display for the Historic Circus Galleries. Her capstone project focused on creating interpretation and programming for the reinstallation of Gallery 12, which will display the Ringling’s ancient Cypriot collection. It consisted of three components: a youth & family gallery guide, a Family Artmaking program, and two Accessibility Tours, including visual descriptions and tactile models. After graduation, she plans to find a career in a curatorial department of classical or ancient art. Sarah has also received a Reckford Fellowship to conduct archaeological research at Cetamura del Chianti in Italy this summer.

Viktor Okuka completed the Master of Arts degree in Art History with a focus in Museum & Cultural Heritage Studies. During his time at FSU, he worked at several campus museums under supervision of Special Collections and Archives, including the Heritage Museum at Dodd Hall and the Claude Pepper Museum. In his second year, he signed on as a graduate assistant for the Immersive Scholarship division of FSU Libraries, developing skills in 3D scanning, photogrammetry, and digital archives. His work has led to collaborations with the Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Science (EOAS) and the Florida Geological Survey (FGS) to assist them in digitizing their collections. He was also part of the committee for the 41st Annual Art History Graduate Symposium. He would like to thank his fellow classmates and faculty for their support in his graduate journey.

Maia Pimperl completed the Master of Arts degree in Art History with a focus on Byzantine eleventh and twelfth-century imperial women’s patronage of monastic institutions. Maia recently completed her MA thesis, “A Collection of Icons and Divine Light: Eirene Doukaina’s Sanctuary of the Kécharitôménè,” which examined the typikon of Empress Eirene Doukaina Komnena, analyzing the interactions between the reliquaries, polykandela, hanging textiles, and icons she bestowed upon her monastery in Constantinople in the eleventh century.

While at FSU, she served as the president of the Art History Association for the academic year 2024-2025, raising funds for the 41^st annual graduate symposium and organizing social events for the program. She participated in the orchestration of the Department of the History of Art’s November 2024 public film screening of Alanis Obomsawin’s film Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance (1993), featuring the 1990 dispute over Kanien’kéhaka (Mohawk) lands in Oka, Quebec. She additionally designated the Winbury Award Committees for awarding MA and PhD students research scholarships.

Maia plans to work as an instructor of Byzantine Art History after graduation. She extends her sincerest thanks to Dr. Lynn Jones for advising the MA thesis on Eirene and for her continual guidance throughout the program.

Jaccie Reaves completed a Master of Arts degree with a focus in Museum and Cultural Heritage Studies.  During her time at FSU, she worked at 621 Gallery and the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art as an intern. Jaccie’s passion for arts education and wonder in museum spaces culminated in a study of sideshow performers, specifically investigating the bannerline in the Ringling’s Historic Circus Galleries. Jaccie also developed multiple youth and family programs for the Ringling, which focused on objects in the museum and tied them to specific art practices for children. With Jessica Saluan and Sarah Moloney, she gained crucial hands-on experience through the cocurating the exhibition Performing for Curiosity: Exploring Stories of Human Display. 

Jessica Salaun completed the Master of Arts degree in Museum & Cultural Heritage Studies. In the program, Jessica worked as a graduate assistant, managing posts and creating content for the department’s social media. She also served as a member of the 40th Annual Art History Graduate Symposium committee. In her second year of study, she pursued a year-long internship with the John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, FL, where she completed projects to catalogue and reconcile “found-in-collection” objects and developed exhibition content for the Circus Museum. After graduation, she will be starting a career in collections management, having secured a position as a Collections Department Program Associate at the Ringling Museum.

Emma White completed the Master of Arts degree in Art History with a focus in Museum & Cultural Heritage Studies. During both academic years, she interned at the National Park Service’s Southeast Archaeological Center (SEAC) through the National Council for Preservation Education. Her work there involved preventative conservation and collections management, which culminated in a week-long work placement at Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park. This year, she also served as the vice-president of the Art History Association (AHA), co-organizing social networking events and fundraising opportunities in support of the 41st Annual Art History Graduate Symposium. She wishes to thank her fellow AHA officers, her cohort, and the faculty for continuing to cultivate her passion for cultural heritage.