Ellis Finger (Project Director) is the founding director of the Williams Center for the Arts. He has been a panelist and site visitor for NEA and a number of state arts agencies and has served as a Hub Site advisor for the National Dance Project (1999-2004). He was a board member for Chamber Music America and chaired its 25th anniversary national conference in 2002. In 2003, he received the William Dawson Award for Programming Excellence from Performing Arts Presenters, and in 2005, he received the NAP AMA award. He received an A.B. from Davidson College with majors in English and German, an M.A. in German from Duke University, and a Ph.D. in German from Princeton University.
Maurice Luker is director of Foundation and Corporate Relations. Previously, he worked for Columbia University, Cornell University, American University, the American Museum of Natural History, and was a post-graduate curatorial fellow at the J. Paul Getty Museum. He has an A.B. from Duke University with a major in art history and an M.A. in history of architecture and urban planning from Cornell University (Virginia Museum of Fine Arts fellow). He serves on the WWNP Steering Committee and resides in Easton’s West Ward neighborhood.
Michiko Okaya (Project Administrator and Site Curator) is founding director of the Williams Center Art Gallery. She has worked with artists on many site-specific installations, and has contributed in a variety of capacities to local and national arts organizations, including: the American Association of Museums, Association of Academic Museums and Galleries (AAMG), Asian Arts Initiative, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Arts Community of Easton, and the Annual Forks of the Delaware Shad Tournament and Festival. She received an A.B. from Stony Brook University with a major in anthropology.
Jim Toia is founding director of the Community Based Teaching Program and coordinator of the Maggin Family Creative and Performing Arts Fellowships (CaPA) at Lafayette College. A sculptor, his work has been featured in over 150 group exhibitions throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. Of the collections including his work are the Morris Museum in Morristown, New Jersey, the AT&T Collection, the Dallas Museum of Art, and the Hunterdon Museum of Art. He received a BA from Bard College and an MFA from the School of Visual Arts.
Mary Wilford-Hunt is director of Facilities Planning and Construction and is a LEED-accredited, registered architect. She oversees all campus planning and construction projects, including sustainability and environmental planning. Previously, she worked with an internationally renowned architectural firm and was architect/planner for East Stroudsburg University. She received a B.S. in architecture from the University of Virginia and an M.Arch. from Rice University. She also studied design at the Architectural Association in London.
Lucienne Di Biase Dooley (Administrative Curator) is an architect and urban designer with Artefact (Bethlehem, PA and president of Urbanities). Of Swiss-Italian origin, she served as curator of the exhibition Lausanne Jardins 2004. She has organized and contributed to a number of exhibitions in Europe and the U.S., and most recently curated Lehigh Valley Going Green at the Allentown Art Museum (2010). She has designed buildings in Africa, Europe, and the U.S., emphasizing sustainable design. She received an M.Arch. from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology.
Gary Evans Emeritus Vice President of College Relations, Lafayette College
Kathleen Parrish is associate director of Media Relations at Lafayette. Previously, she served as director of public information for Lehigh County and before that worked as a special projects reporter for the Morning Call. She has won numerous awards, including a Keystone Press Award for Distinguished Writing from the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association and her work has appeared in Better Homes and Gardens, American Way, the Saturday Evening Post and other magazines. Coauthor of My Life on the Run, which was excerpted in Runner’s World magazine, she holds a B.A. in communications from the University of Dayton and a M.S. from Columbia University School of Journalism.
David Nicholas (Site Manager through August 10)
Paul Deery (Site Manager through conclusion of Festival)