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 and the board of directors of the Congressional Education Foundation. 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. His newest book, Lady Bird Johnson: An Oral History, was released by Oxford University Press in 2012. 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.
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, Exhibitions Coordinator
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. As exhibitions coordinator, she manages the circulation of exhibitions and the promotion of related programs.
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.
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, and 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.
Sheena Moore, Program Officer
Sheena Moore joined Humanities Texas in January 2013. A native of Texas, she holds a BA in English and a minor in women and gender studies (2008) from The University of Texas at Austin. Prior to joining Humanities Texas, she worked as a program specialist for VICTORY Tutorial Program, a partnership between the City of Austin and Austin Independent School District. At VICTORY, she coordinated one-to-one tutoring for grades one through twelve in all subjects, and worked to build community partnerships with local nonprofit organizations such as Austin Free-Net to provide iPads and technology to students for tutoring purposes. She also serves as social media manager for Austin children’s writer Shana Burg, author of A Thousand Never Evers and Texas Bluebonnet Award-nominated Laugh with the Moon. Sheena supports the Humanities Texas education programs.
Jillian Owens, Program Officer
Jillian Owens holds a BA in Plan II Honors and religious studies from The University of Texas at Austin. She was a Dean’s Distinguished Graduate in the College of Liberal Arts and received a Mitchell Award for Academic Excellence for her honors thesis on Joel Osteen. Before joining Humanities Texas in September 2012, she was a production assistant at ZACH theatre, and she continues to write theatre reviews for The Austin Chronicle. Though she was raised in southeast Florida, she has lived in Austin for a third of her life. She supports the Humanities Texas education programs and serves as lead coordinator for individual teacher institutes.
Maria Parham, Program Officer
Maria Parham joined Humanities Texas in October 2012 as a program assistant. She graduated from The University of Texas at Austin in 2010 with a BA in Plan II Honors and Spanish and a BA in studio art. After graduation, she taught English in Santiago, Chile for several months and traveled throughout Latin America. She also works as a freelance translator, completing Spanish-English translation projects for various professionals in the medical, legal, and financial fields.
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. In addition to serving as Humanities Texas's chief designer and photographer, she is a member of the exhibitions staff.
Erica Whittington, Program Officer
Erica Whittington joined Humanities Texas in 2012. She holds a PhD (2012) and an MA (2003) in history from The University of Texas at Austin, and a BA in history and public policy studies (1999) from Duke University. At UT, she co-founded the Gender Symposium, served as co-chair of the Graduate Student Assembly, earned a certificate in interdisciplinary teaching, and taught courses in American history and writing. From 1999 to 2001, she worked as project coordinator at the Eisenhower Center for American Studies at the University of New Orleans. In this capacity, she conducted research; organized academic conferences, public lectures, and events; and assisted with the opening of the National World War II Museum. She specializes in twentieth-century American history, and her publications consider the confluence of race, internationalism, and student activism in the postwar South. At Humanities Texas, she supports the President’s Vision project, Texas Originals, teacher institutes and workshops, and other education programs.
