Faculty Staff

Avery M. Thomas is a native of South Jersey and is the Director of Financial Aid.  A graduate of Lincoln University with a BS in Organizational Psychology and an MS in Business, he is pursuing his Ed.D in Educational Leadership from the University of Dayton.  Avery has worked in Student Accounting as an Assistant Bursar and Bursar for various colleges.  He is a proud member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated, and serves as his chapter Historian.

A native of Baltimore, Aunya received her BS in Health Education and Promotion at Morgan State University. While at MSU, she held many on-campus leadership roles, the most rewarding being the community service chairs for the Beta Tau Chapter of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Incorporated and the National Pan-Hellenic Council, Morgan State Section. For the past two years, Aunya served as a Residence Life Intern/Hall Director at Frostburg State University; she earned her Master of Science in Higher Education, Student Affairs from Purdue University online.

Throughout her career, Lise has been a champion of the arts and has sought to innovatively engage diverse communities with art in meaningful ways. A native of Canada, Lise started her career developing and teaching art classes and workshops at community centers and museums including the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and the National Gallery of Canada. As the director of education at the Allentown Art Museum in Pennsylvania and through subsequent positions as the executive director of the Driehaus Museum, a decorative arts museum in Chicago and more recently, through her leadership of International Arts & Artists, an arts service organization based in Washington, DC, Lise has remained committed to fostering the personal and professional growth and goals of students, adults, and emerging and seasoned creative professionals.

Krista Rothwell has a long history with DCAD and is an alumnus from the first graduating class in 1999! She currently serves as the Assistant Dean but has had multiple roles at DCAD including the Registrar, Institutional Research Coordinator, Senior Admissions Counselor, and Interim Student Services Coordinator. After receiving her BFA from Moore College of Art and Design she began working in higher education where her belief in the importance of art education was cemented. Recently she received her 200-hour yoga teacher training certificate. In her opinion mindfulness and creativity is the foundation for a happy life. Krista’s work in the studio is focused on the relationship between spiritual prana, connection, and memory combining both painting, drawing, and mixed media elements.

Yookyoung Choi received a Ph.D. in Art History from the University of Maryland, College Park, writing her dissertation titled Globalization and Ethnic Identity in the Art Works of Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Yong Soon Min, and Nikki S. Lee.  Her research focuses on the ways in which Asian and Asian American artists negotiate their hybrid cultural identities in the contemporary world. She was a visiting assistant professor at Wells College and the University of Oregon, teaching a wide range of art history courses including Contemporary Asian Art.

Hailey is a Delaware native that began her journey at the Delaware College of Art and Design as a photography major between 2013-2015. After graduation, she transferred to Pratt Institute where she completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts in photography in 2017. Post-graduation, Hailey started working in higher education at DCAD with her role as an Admissions Counselor and later moving to become DCAD’s registrar. Outside of her duties at DCAD Hailey is currently a Brooklyn-based fiber artist and photographer.

Marcus Freeman holds a master of education degree in higher education and counseling from Frostburg State University in Frostburg, Md. He also earned a bachelor of science degree in business management from Rutgers University–Camden in Camden, N.J. While a graduate student, Marcus worked for FSU’s Residence Life Department as a hall director and its Office of Student Involvement as a graduate programming assistant. As an undergraduate, Marcus was active with the Black Student Union, serving as president and treasurer simultaneously while serving as vice president for the Campus Activity Board and RU-C president for the Nu Iota Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc.

Willow Quillen is the adjunct instructor for 3D Modeling, where students learn to digitally sculpt and create forms of all kinds.  Willow is a Delaware College of Art and Design and Pratt Institute alumnus, where she studied 3D Animation and Art History.  She also works as a freelance illustrator and designer from her home in Pittsburgh, PA.  She has worked for clients, such as Hachette Books, A-F Records, Gecko Robotics, and more. Instagram.

I was born and raised in the great state of Louisiana. I am a country boy who loves hunting, camping, fishing, and anything else that requires me to be outdoors. Building maintenance is and always will be my passion and, that’s why I’ve been in the maintenance field for 21 years. I’m the former Facilities Director for the Roxborough branch of the YMCA. Being a part of the DCAD team of professionals has been and is an amazing privilege. I look forward to the many interesting challenges and overwhelming successes that we are going to experience together as a DCAD family. To the future.

Amy Bryan is an artist and educator from New Orleans, Louisiana. She is an adjunct instructor at DCAD teaching Introduction to Non-Western Art in the Liberal Arts Area. Other college classes she has taught include Introduction to the Visual Arts, Art History Surveys, African American Art, Drawing, Design, and Printmaking. As an artist, she focuses on drawing, photography, and mixed media art.

She has a Master of Fine Arts in Printmaking from Howard University in Washington DC and a Bachelor of Arts from Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans.

Denise Tanyol received her BA from the Writing Seminars at the Johns Hopkins University and her MA in English and creative writing from the Center for Writers at the University of Southern Mississippi. Her doctoral dissertation at the University of Pennsylvania, “The Inconstant Machine: Photography and American Literature,” concerns American writers’ often conflicted encounters with the camera, in particular their responses to changes in technology and practice. She has published papers on Melville, Joyce, and Faulkner and has presented conference papers on various photo-textual topics, including “The Photographic Novel from Wright Morris to 9/11.” Most recently she has written on the 1940s photo-texts of the novelist and photographer Wright Morris (1910-1998). Her teaching and research interests include American literature; American social documentary photography; the impact of photography on American writing; and creative writing. Her recent teaching includes modern American literature and literature of the American South. At DCAD and the University of Pennsylvania, she developed a new creative writing class, “Making Photo-texts,” in which students make hybrid works of fiction and creative nonfiction that incorporate photographs. At DCAD, she teaches the history of film (Moving Pictures), the history of photography (Lenticular Vision), and Modern Lit and Creative Writing.

Chase Dougherty is the Gretchen Hupfel Curator of Contemporary Art at The Delaware Contemporary. She graduated with a BA in Art History from Sonoma State University and is currently completing her MFA in Museum Exhibition Planning + Design at UARTS in Philadelphia. She has held various roles in museums and galleries over the past decade and is a passionate reader and writer about art. Her work with exhibition design and curating is focused on increasing visitor engagement and interpretation in art museums through multisensory design.