Alexandra Chamberlain
she/her/hers
Director of Operations, Association of Academic Museums and Galleries
Alexandra Chamberlain is the Director of Operations for the Association of Academic Museums and Galleries, among other arts-related contracted work. Previously, Ms. Chamberlain was incredibly successful as the Asst. Director and Curator of Exhibitions and Education at DePauw University's Peeler Art Gallery and Collections. While in the position at DePauw, the galleries saw exponential growth in visitors and educational experiences for local K-12 schools. Alexandra is also deeply involved in local and regional arts programs, including Greencastle Civic League, The Castle, and Putnam County Mural Project. Alexandra also enjoys taking long walks with her puppies Luna and Apollo and her partner Jordan.
Kayla Flegal is the Access and Outreach Services Librarian at DePauw University's Roy O. West Library. As such, Ms. Flegal coordinates the patron-forward services at the library, along with other duties. As a member of the DePauw faculty, Ms. Flegal also teaches a section of UNIV135, Academic Excellence Seminar, along with serving on various university committees. Kayla enjoys skiing and biking with her partner Chris, choreographing dances with their 3 y/o daughter, making silly faces at their infant son, and being an active member of the vibrant Greencastle community.
The impetus for our collaboration:
As instruction practitioners, Alexandra and Kayla are continuously looking for new ways to engage students in a meaningful way. Kayla wanted her class to explore new spaces on campus, the DePauw Galleries being one of them, and in conversation with Alexandra and exploring her expertise, they decided a multi-pronged approach could be interesting. Get students to visit the Galleries, and engage them with Visual Thinking Strategies to see that the collections and exhibitions can/do engage with their current coursework. From this, Kayla was able to see the connection inherent between VTS and the Association of College and Research Libraries' Framework for Information Literacy.
After an initial trial VTS session in the Spring 2018 semester, Kayla and Alexandra decided to formalize the collaboration and gather more data starting in the Fall 2018 semester.
