Project manager with over ten years of experience in non-profit management and collections research looking to revitalize public engagement with art and culture through forward-thinking exhibitions, accessible publications, and clear communication that focuses on empathy and building community. 

After earning her PhD, Alison co-founded Xipe Projects, a non-profit educational foundation for Latin American art, and has since published on the topics of art and ethics, modern fiction, and several exhibition catalogues focused on Mexican and Guatemalan folk art of the late nineteenth and early twentieth-centuries.

Dr. Heney has presented her research at over twenty professional conferences including the American Comparative Literature Conference, the Modernist Studies Association, the Modern Language Association, and has been an invited participant for the Institute for World Literature Annual Conference at Harvard hosted by Bilgi Üniversitesi, Istanbul, Turkey.

WORK EXPERIENCE

MUSEUM OPERATIONS

Project Manager, 2019 – Present

As Project Manager for Museum Operations, Alison is responsible for assisting in planning, research, project completion, and scheduling of assigned programs. This includes providing administrative support, record keeping, policy report and grant-writing, interim oversight of projects, website and social media management, and communication coordination in support of CEO Rich Cherry and various external third parties including architects, designers, contractors, artists, and vendors.

XIPE PROJECTS: LATIN AMERICAN ART

Curator and Assistant Director 2011-2018

As the Assistant Director and Curator for the non-profit organization Xipe Projects, Alison led the planning and production of eight in-house exhibitions including the selection and training of a diverse and culturally sensitive volunteer staff; and coordinated numerous tours, seminars, lectures, and traveling trade shows including Treasures of the Maya Spirit with La Ruta Maya Fundación for the 2014 LA Art Show. During this time, she also completed her second Master’s degree in Museum Studies at Johns Hopkins University with a special focus on developing strategies for community engagement and museum education.

(Planning/Research Stage) Digital Preservation and Exhibition Coordinator for the Alfonso Palacios Carrillo Collection of Photographs: Album de Fotografias Indigenas Vol. and Vol. 2, 684 black and white silver gelatin prints taken and developed between the years 1942 and 1950.

Exhibition Curator and Catalogue Co-Author for The Maestro and the Dance: An in-depth look at the creative vision of Maestro Florencio Valey of Santa Lucía Cotzumalguapa and the world of Guatemalan dance culture at Xipe Projects in Huntington Beach, CA (2015)

Exhibition Curator and Catalogue Design for Crisencio Molina Maldonado: Yoeme Deer Singer and Pascola Mask Carver (2014)

Exhibition Co-Curator and Co-Organizer for the Temporary Exhibition on Maya art and ethnography at the 19th Annual Los Angeles Art Show Presented by The Palm Beach Show Group in Tandem with the 29th Annual IFPDA Los Angeles Fine Print Fair.

Project Manager and Content Coordinator for Cultural Exchange: The Seri Today at Xipe Projects in Huntington Beach, CA.Traveling Exhibition at Xipe Projects in Huntington Beach, CA. Special Guests: Seri /Comca’ac Women’s Artisans Cooperative from Desemboque (2014)

Exhibition Curator and Catalogue Co-Author for Ceramic Trees of Life: Izúcar de Matamoros, Acatlán, and Metepec. Temporary Exhibition on the Mexican tradition of ceramic arts at Xipe Projects in Huntington Beach, CA (2013)

Exhibition Curator and Catalogue Author for Visions of the Fantastic: Calaveras, Naguales y Diablos. Temporary Exhibition on Surrealism in Latin American folk art at Xipe Projects in Huntington Beach, CA(2012)

Exhibition Curator for Persistence of the Flower World. Temporary Exhibition on the masked dance tradition of the Yaqui, Mayo, Cora, Tarahumara, and Tepehuan at Xipe Projects in Huntington Beach, CA (2012)

Exhibition Curator and Catalogue Co-author for Danzas y Máscaras. Exhibition on the masked dance tradition in Guatemala and Mexico at Xipe Projects in Huntington Beach, CA (2012)

UC BERKELEY AND UC BERKELEY EXTENSION

Lecturer in Literature/Film Noir and Online Course Developer 2014 – Present

Managed course development, revision, and maintained projects from inception to completion.

Consulted with English Department to ensure consistency of curriculum scope across the institution.

Consulted with education vendors to ensure legal and accreditation requirements are met and maintained.

Worked to provide the Course Canvas LMS and content integrity technical support and training to faculty, staff, and students.

Designed and maintained WordPress blog and Twitter page for student publication.

Student Mentor

SUNY EMPIRE STATE COLLEGE

Lecturer in Human Development and Online Course Developer 2009 – Present

Managed course development, revision and maintained projects from inception to completion.

Consulted with the Human Development Department to ensure consistency of curriculum scope across the institution.

Consulted with vendors to ensure legal and accreditation requirements are met and maintained.

Worked to provide the Course Moodle LMS and content integrity technical support and training to faculty, staff, and students.

Student Mentor

BINGHAMTON UNIVERSITY

Lecturer and Instructor of Record in Comparative Literature and Film  2004 – 2010

UNDERGRADUATE UPPER DIVISION COURSES

• Film and Feminism
• Horror Film and the Fantastic
• Theories of Spectatorship
• Film and the Avant-Garde
• Cinema and Violence

UNDERGRADUATE LOWER DIVISION COURSE

• Fairy Tales
• Literature and Psychology
• Literature and Society

EDUCATION

PhD Comparative Literature

Binghamton University

Graduate Certificate in Latin American and Caribbean Studies

Graduate Certificate in Feminist Studies

MA Museum Studies

Johns Hopkins University

MA Comparative Literature

Binghamton University

BA Comparative Literature and Classics

California State University at Long Beach

COMMUNITY CONTRIBUTIONS

Volunteer Coordinator

MuseWeb (formerly Museums and the Web) (2017-Present)

Advisory Board Member

Trespassing An online journal for art, science, and philosophy. Istanbul, Turkey (2012-Present)

Volunteer

Communicating the Museum – Museums Beyond Walls: Los Angeles, 6-9 (2017)

Fundraising Volunteer – Long Beach Japanese Language School and Cultural Center (2016 – Present)

Contributing Editor

Crossings: An Interdisciplinary Journal. Issue # 9 Killing Time, State University of New York at Binghamton

Manuscript Review

SAGE Open Online Journal: Modern Literature (2010)

Managing Editor

Crossings: An Interdisciplinary Journal. Issue # 8 The “Work” of Art,  State University of New York at Binghamton ISSN: 1093-3190

Managing and Submissions Editor

Issue #23 Cosmopolitanism, California State University at Long Beach

GRANTS

ACLA Travel Grant (2007)

American Comparative Literature Conference: Puebla, Mexico.

Tinker Foundation Award /Summer Research Grant (2006)

Department of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Binghamton University, NY.

FELLOWSHIPS

Dissertation Year Fellowship (2010)

Department of Comparative Literature, Binghamton University (Only one awarded per year).

Excellence in Research Award (2010)

Department of Comparative Literature, Binghamton University.

PUBLICATIONS

Books

Theorizing the Fantastic in Twentieth Century Art. Co-Edited with Dr. Amy Smith. Cambridge Scholars Publishing: Cambridge (Expected 2019).

10 Steps in Writing the Research Paper 7th Edition. Barrons Educational Series: New York, 2011.

Selected Articles

“Kandinsky’s ‘On the Problem of Form (1912)’ and the Fiction of Virginia Woolf.” Virginia Woolf Miscellany. No. 80. Southern Connecticut State University (2011).

Critical Review: “Bloomsbury, Modernism and the Reinvention of Intimacy by Jesse Wolfe.” Modern Fiction Studies. Volume 59, no. 4. (2013).

“Seeking the Ancient Spirit in Modern Art: Jane Harrison.” genre: Ancient and Modern Narrative. California State University, Long Beach (2007).

Multimedia

www.BerkeleyMysteryFiction.com Webmaster for UC Berkeley Extension Course Blog