Michael L. Gillette, Executive Director
Michael L. Gillette has been Humanities Texas’s executive director since 2003. His former positions include directing the LBJ Library’s Oral History Program from 1976 to 1991 and serving as director of the Center for Legislative Archives from 1991 to 2003, with responsibility for the official records of the United States Senate and the House of Representatives at the National Archives. Gillette serves on the advisory board of the John Glenn School of Public Affairs at The Ohio State University, the board of directors of the Congressional Education Foundation, and the board of visitors of Southwestern University. He is a member of the Philosophical Society of Texas and served as its president in 2009. His previous affiliations include the board of directors of the Everett Dirksen Congressional Leadership Center and the Law Library of Congress’s National Digital Library Program. Gillette is the author of Launching the War on Poverty: An Oral History and editor of Texas in Transition. He received his BA in government and his PhD in history from The University of Texas at Austin.
For more on Michael L. Gillette visit the Director's page.
Julia Aguilar, Senior Program Officer
Julia Aguilar joined Humanities Texas in August 2003. She graduated from The University of Texas at Austin with a BA in Plan II Honors and a BS in advertising with a concentration in business. She is principal assistant to executive director Michael L. Gillette, provides support for activities of the board of directors, serves as lead coordinator at individual teacher institutes, and acts as an event coordinator for the Byrne-Reed House.
Naomi Baldinger, Editor and Executive Assistant
Naomi Baldinger joined Humanities Texas in July 2009. She graduated from The University of Texas at Austin with degrees in Plan II Honors and French in 2005, and received her MA in comparative literature from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2008. As a UT undergraduate, she worked as a research assistant and volunteered at the on-campus Women’s Resource Center. She spent her junior year in Paris studying at the Sorbonne Nouvelle and teaching English to elementary school students. In Los Angeles, she shared her passion for literature and writing with public school students through her work with 826LA, a nonprofit writing and tutoring center. An assistant to executive director Michael L. Gillette, she also serves as editor for the electronic newsletter, manages press for the teacher institute program, and supports other programs.
Tina Cannon Ayers, Program Officer
Tina Cannon Ayers holds a PhD in history (2009) from Texas Christian University, an MA in history from Baylor University (2001), and a BA in history from The University of Texas at Austin (1999). She joined Humanities Texas in September 2011 after teaching U.S. history, world civilizations, and Latin American history at the university level. Her previous publications and current research interests involve school desegregation and the civil rights movement in Texas. She supports the Humanities Texas education program.
Meghan Chaney, Administrative Assistant
Meghan Chaney joined Humanities Texas in December 2004. She grew up in Austin and attended Texas State University–San Marcos. She has worked previously as an office manager and bookkeeper for various companies, including 10X Contracting, Spectrum Drywall, and Stipco Construction. Meghan supports general office and facilities management, bookkeeping, meetings and events, and provides other program support as needed.
Brook Davis, Grants Program Officer
Brook Davis holds a BA in history and political science from Texas State University-San Marcos. She joined Humanities Texas in September 2002 as an intern and, in January 2003, was hired as a full-time administrative assistant. In January 2004, she was promoted to grants program officer and now supports the administration of Humanities Texas's grants program. She maintains the grants database system, tracks grant-funded programs, compiles program-related statistics, and assists Texas-based nonprofit organizations in developing effective grant proposals.
Nikki Diller, Program Assistant
Nikki Diller holds a BA in history from Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi and an MA in art history from Tulane University in New Orleans. Prior to joining Humanities Texas in 2012, she worked as an IMLS digitization specialist at the Louisiana State Museum and as a collections move assistant for Williamstown Art Conservation Center. While employed by Williamstown Art Conservation Center, she assisted in the conservation and transportation of Louisiana State Museum collections evacuated during Hurricane Katrina. She has also worked in museum education, fundraising, and collections management. She supports the Humanities Texas traveling exhibitions program.
Yvonne Doerr González, Deputy Director
Yvonne González joined Humanities Texas as fiscal officer and grants administrator in May 1988, served as director of finance from 1995–1999, and associate director and chief financial officer through 2003. During an executive director search, she served as interim executive director for Humanities Texas from April through July 2002. A Texas native from Brownsville, she worked previously as fiscal agent for two non profit organizations funded by city, state and federal grants She holds a BA of liberal studies in accounting from St. Edward's University. She serves as financial and compliance officer, human resources, and oversees the facilities, meetings, and events.
Samantha Gordon, Program Assistant
Samantha Gordon first came to Humanities Texas as an exhibitions intern in summer 2008 and returned in summer 2009. Throughout college, she had been interested in various fields within the arts and humanities, interning at institutions such as the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, KUHF Houston Public Radio, and the Harry Ransom Center. She graduated from The University of Texas at Austin in 2010 with a BA in Plan II Honors and linguistics with a minor in Russian and a BFA in studio art. After graduation, she returned to work at Humanities Texas part-time before taking a position as the projects coordinator at the Neill-Cochran House Museum. In summer 2011, she again returned to Humanities Texas to assist with the website redesign project. She is also enjoying attending Austin's Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in the Patisserie and Baking Certificate program.
Susanna R. Hill, Development Officer
Susanna R. Hill joined Humanities Texas in January 2010 as a program officer, and in September 2011 began work as the development officer for the organization. She attended the University of Virginia, where she received a BA in interdisciplinary studies in 2001. She then worked as the production coordinator at Laumont Photographics in New York and as the reprints coordinator at Scholastic, Inc. where she oversaw corrections to books. She received her MA in art history from The University of Texas at Austin in 2008. As a fellow at The University of Texas Press, she worked in acquisitions, copyediting, and rights and permissions from 2008 to 2010.
Melissa J. Huber, Director of Exhibitions
Melissa Huber joined Humanities Texas in December 2007. She holds a BA in art history from Arizona State University and an MS in historic preservation from The University of Texas at Austin. Prior to joining Humanities Texas, she worked as an exhibitions technician at the Blanton Museum of Art and as a graduate research assistant in UT's Architectural Conservation Lab. Her combined focus on collections, exhibitions, and historic buildings developed in her previous role as conservation assistant for the Arizona State Museum Preservation Division at The University of Arizona in Tucson. She oversees the traveling exhibitions program and served as point-person for the Byrne-Reed House restoration project.
Liz James, Coordinator of Educational Programs
Liz James joined Humanities Texas in September 2008. Originally from Austin, she attended Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, and graduated with a BA in the history of art in May 2008. As an undergraduate, she developed a passion for education through her involvement with ArtReach, a program designed to bring art and education programs to the underserved Nashville community. In addition to administering the Outstanding Teaching Awards, she works on Humanities Texas’s teacher institute and education programs, serving as lead coordinator for individual teacher institutes.
Henry Levine, Exhibitions Technician
Henry Levine joined Humanities Texas in December 2009. He graduated from The University of Texas at Austin with a BA in fine arts and received his MFA from Parsons The New School for Design in 1997. Prior to joining Humanities Texas, he worked as an exhibitions installer and carpenter for numerous museums and galleries including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, MoMA-PS1, and The Jewish Museum of New York. Currently, he divides his time between Humanities Texas and his own company, where he designs and builds furniture with an emphasis on sustainable materials and building practices.
Eric Lupfer, Director of Grants and Education
Eric Lupfer holds a PhD in English (2003) and an MS in information studies (2004) from The University of Texas at Austin and a BA in English from Bowdoin College (1991). Before joining the staff of Humanities Texas in 2004, he worked at UT’s Harry Ransom Center, where he curated an NEH-funded traveling exhibition on Isaac Bashevis Singer and codirected the center’s summer teacher institute. He has taught courses in literature and composition at both the high school and college levels. In the past several years, he has published articles and book reviews on American literature and publishing history, including an essay in the five-volume, collaborative scholarly work, A History of the Book in America. A native of Memphis, Tennessee, Eric directs the Humanities Texas grants, education, and awards programs.
Rachel Spradley, Program Officer
Rachel Spradley is originally from Dallas, and moved to Austin in 2006 to attend The University of Texas at Austin. While at UT, she interned for Billingsley Company, a real estate firm in Dallas, during the summer of 2008 and studied abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina, during the spring semester of 2009. She graduated from UT in May 2010 with degrees in Plan II Honors and Spanish and a minor in art history. She supports the Humanities Texas education programs and serves as lead coordinator for individual teacher institutes.
Lindsey Wall, Exhibitions Coordinator
Lindsey Wall is a native of Austin, Texas. She graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a BA in architecture. Prior to joining Humanities Texas in September of 2008, she worked as the curatorial assistant for the Mattress Factory, a contemporary art museum and artists' residence program in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. There she helped to coordinate the fabrication of exhibitions and collaborated with artists, curators, staff, and contractors. She has also handled exhibitions at the Regina Gouger Miller Gallery and the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s Wood Street Galleries. As exhibitions coordinator, she manages the circulation of exhibitions and the promotion of related programs.
