Meet the 2019 Executive Board Candidates: Meghan Rubenstein, Public Relations and Communications Officer
The VRA annual election of officers will take place November 1-30, 2019. Members will receive an email on November 1 with instructions for accessing the ballot. Please vote and show your support to the candidates and participate in the governance of the Association.
About the Candidate
Meghan Rubenstein is the Curator of Visual Resources at Colorado College where she oversees the Art Department’s image collections, manages the website, troubleshoots in the classroom, and assists faculty and students with digital teaching, scholarship, and creative projects. She also offers workshops on art and design-related software and teaches courses on Mesoamerican art and archaeology.
Her career in visual resources began with a work-study position in the Slide Library at the Kansas City Art Institute. After graduation in 2002, Meghan started working full-time at KCAI as the Visual Resources Assistant. In 2006, she returned to school earning an MA in Art History from Indiana University (where she ran straight to the Visual Resources Center for a student job!) and a PhD in Art History from the University of Texas.
Since joining the VRA in 2015, Meghan has been active in the organization. She is a member of the Education and Travel Awards committees, the Chair of the Wild West Chapter, and Senior Workshop Liaison for the VRAF Regional Workshop Implementation Team. At the annual conference, Meghan has presented papers on digital collection management and visual literacy and co-led a workshop on public speaking. She has also contributed design skills to the organization, creating the logo for the 2017 VRA conference in Louisville, a place near and dear to her Midwestern heart.
Goals
In a short period of time, I have developed a deep appreciation for this community of creative, funny, smart, and generous people doing interesting work all over the world. While there have been difficult conversations about the health of the VRA centered on declining membership, budgetary concerns, and the waning energy of those who have served on their fair share of committees and task forces, I am excited to see positive change resulting from this period of self-examination. I would welcome the opportunity to serve the VRA at this critical juncture as I feel that facilitating dialogue within the organization and promoting our mission through our public facing outlets are two ways in which we can engage with members and non-members alike.
My goals for this position would be to help grow the VRA by reaching new audiences as well as to support existing members by maintaining open channels of communication. Our website, social media accounts, and publications are essential to these efforts. I’m particularly interested in evaluating our strategy to make sure our communication is both accessible and inclusive at the organizational level, and consistent with our mission. A related priority would be to integrate forthcoming recommendations from the Identity Task Force. If elected, I will be dedicated to building community within the VRA through these means and any other way that presents itself.