The Lowell Milken Family Foundation (LMFF) has announced the 2024-2025 cohort of ARTEFFECT Ambassadors, a prestigious visual arts education online fellowship for educators working directly with students in grades 6-12. The 34 fellows in the second annual cohort hail from 21 states and include 26 visual arts teachers. Members of the cohort represent diverse educational, professional, and geographic backgrounds, including specializations in visual arts, social studies, STEAM, and administration.

This year’s ARTEFFECT Ambassadors will participate in a series of online professional development sessions, learning from other high-level practitioners in a collegial peer-learning community. These virtual sessions—four of which are also open to all interested educators and free to join—explore varied themes and subject areas with a focus on Unsung Heroes including STEAM, character education, social impact, and visual storytelling.

“The Ambassadors fellowship continues to foster visual arts education by directly engaging educators with remarkable stories of Unsung Heroes,” said Dr. Toni Guglielmo, Director of AREFFECT. “Through the teaching and learning in this program, students are equipped with new insights that allow them to make a positive impact on their communities by championing Unsung Heroes. 

In the online sessions, participants:

• Explore various approaches for considering and creatively interpreting the stories of Unsung Heroes as role models through the visual arts.
• Use lesson plans focused on the Unsung Heroes that provide step-by-step modeling to create artworks in varied 2D and 3D mediums and artists’ impact statements.
• Engage with other educators nationwide to deepen their own instructional practices. 

The Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes (LMC) works with students and educators to discover and develop the stories of Unsung Heroes from history—individuals not commonly known who took extraordinary actions in service to others and society. 

LMC and ARTEFFECT Founder Lowell Milken noted, “Unsung Heroes from prior generations demonstrate the power of one person to profoundly better the lives of others and positively impact the course of history. This is of critical importance today as generations young and old, local and global, need positive role models from the past to serve as beacons to light the path to a secure future.”

In addition to participating in professional development modules, Ambassadors develop learner-centered visual-arts-based capstone projects. The program running through June 2025 culminates with Ambassadors presenting their capstone projects—such as developing a new lesson plan, a student art exhibition, a teacher-training program, a publication, or other activities—that have been implemented effectively within their classrooms and communities. The projects create new pathways in visual art education by harnessing the inspiring stories of Unsung Heroes at the core of ARTEFFECT’s offerings, including its professional development, student art competition, and online exhibitions. ARTEFFECT Ambassadors receive an unrestricted stipend of $1,250, a $250 materials credit, and a Certificate of Participation upon completion. 

ARTEFFECT is an initiative of the Lowell Milken Family Foundation. Since 2016, ARTEFFECT has run an annual international art competition for middle and high school students. Last year’s competition awarded over $25,000 in prizes. The next cycle is accepting submissions from October 1, 2024, through April 27, 2025. 

Introducing the 2024-2025 ARTEFFECT Ambassadors

Corina Salas Alvarezdelugo

Upper School Art & Design Faculty – King School – Stamford, CT 

Anna August

Art Teacher – Sinai Akiba Academy – Los Angeles CA 

Michal Austin

Visual Art Teacher – Flinthills USD 492 – Rosalia, KS 

Pnina Benperlas

Hebrew Teacher – Milken Community School – Los Angeles, CA

 Jennifer Browning Bolesta

Visual Art Teacher – Visitation Academy – Saint Louis, MO

Aja Brown

STEM Teacher – Metropolitan Soundview High School – Bronx, NY

Maureen T. Bryant

Visual Art Teacher – Visitation Academy – Saint Louis, MO 

Elisabeth Yvonne Diaz

Visual Art Teacher – Twain Dual Language Academy – San Antonio, TX 

Rosemary Dodson, Ed.S.

Visual Art Teacher – Savannah Arts Academy – Savannah, GA

Brian James Dussel, Ed.D.

Social Studies Teacher – Jericho Senior High School – Jericho, NY

Sarah Espinal

Social Studies Teacher – Jericho School District – Jericho, NY

 Samantha Fields, Ed.D.

Lead Art Teacher – Dougherty County School System – Albany, GA 

Joshua Freeman

Visual Art Teacher – Providence High School – Burbank, CA

Kelly Ann Hamilton

Assistant Principal - Compass Academy - Idaho Falls, ID 

Archana Kamani

Visual Arts Teacher – Plainfield Academy for the Arts and Advanced Studies – Plainfield, NJ

Jennifer Kay-Rivera, Ed.S.

Art Educator – Sterling Heights High School – Sterling Heights, MI

Ashli Knoell

STEAM + Robotics Teacher - V. Sue Cleveland High School - Rio Rancho, NM

James Lawlor

Social Studies Teacher - Jericho Middle School – Jericho, NY

Cheryl Lunger

Retired/Drawing/Painting Teacher - LaVilla School of the Arts – Jacksonville, FL 

Soudabeh Memarzadeh

CTE Visual Art Teacher - Del Lago Academy – Escondido, CA

Mary Esther Morrow, Ed.S.

Visual Arts Teacher - St. Clair County High School – Odenville, AL

Stephen Charles Newbold Jr., Ph.D.

Digital Arts and Design/Photography Teacher, MacArthur High School, Washington, D.C 

Kathryn L. Pascal

Pottery Teacher - Franklin Pierce High School – Tacoma, WA 

Erica Quale

U.S. History Teacher - Wachter Middle School – Bismarck, ND

Keri Reynolds, Ed.D.

Visual Arts Teacher & Secondary Fine Arts Lead - Kerr High School – Houston, TX 

Michele Rodich

Visual Art Teacher - Preston County High School – Kingwood, WV 

Mindy Ray Sizemore

Visual Art Teacher - Spring Mills High School – Martinsburg, WV

Susannah L. Van Horn, Ph.D.

Visual Arts Educator - St. Thomas Aquinas Parish School - East Lansing, MI

Monico Orlando Vitela

Visual Art Teacher - Bonham Academy - San Antonio, TX 

Susan Denise Vollucci

Visual Art & Art History Teacher - Central Falls High School – Central Falls, RI

 Denise K. Webb

Visual Art Teacher - Pleasure Ridge Park High School – Louisville, KY

 Rebecca Wilkinson

Visual Art Teacher – Ida B. Wells Academic and Performing Arts Complex - Jackson, MS

Matt Shain Young

Visual Arts Teacher - Pickerington High School Central – Pickerington, OH 

Rosemary Anne Ziegler

Visual Art Teacher - Troy Buchanan High School – Troy, MO