Dr. Kristine Roome is a cultural anthropologist with expertise in arts and culture, science and education. She has a Ph.D. in applied anthropology from Columbia University and has held senior executive positions and faculty roles at Teachers College, Columbia University, The New School University, Maryland Institute College of Art, Howard County Community College and the University of the Witswatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. Among her many public speaking engagements, she has given talks at the Shanghai Museum of Art, Reykjavik University and the United Nations Headquarters on the role of the arts in society. As the Director of Wright Gallery in New York City she curated exhibitions of African art, and later served as a consultant on contemporary and art historical exhibitions with cultural institutions such as the Johannesburg Bienale, the Museum for African Art, Meridien International, and Columbia University. She currently hosts the EcoArts forum on the Ecological Design Collective based in Baltimore: with an international following, the platform brings attention to art and artists engaged in environmental sustainability. In addition, she is an archivist at the Smithsonian Institute/National Anthropology Archives in Washington D.C. and author of the forthcoming book, The Human Feather: Conversations Beyond Art & Science (Routledge 2025).

Dr. Roome currently serves in the Moore/Miller administration as a Trustee on the Board of the State of Maryland Historical Trust and as a voting member of the Preservation awards, Investment, and Monument Relocation subcommittees.

I love a good story. And more than that, I love being part of a project where the story is unfolding and the ending is not yet known. It is the process that intrigues me and in my work as a cultural anthropologist I try to capture and reveal that process of creation. Whether it is a scientist in the lab or an artist or curator working on an exhibition, I am curious about how they approach their work and the many ways in which their own personal lives and the social and political context plays a part in what they do. No one works in complete isolation and discoveries and innovations do not just come out of the blue. Yet so often we just hear about the end product not knowing where it came from. Take an exhibition for example. You can see the works on view, read the texts on the wall, buy a catalog – but all of that was likely years in the making and the product of real people making decisions along the way.

Second, as an art gallery director I have curated exhibitions and worked with several cultural institutions as a consultant. Through these experiences I have become particularly interested in exhibition design, exploring how the ways in which works are displayed gives them meaning and value.

Third, as a trained archivist and a Trustee on the Maryland Historical Trust I try to understand who and what is considered historically significant and how one decides what is important enough to preserve and why.

Lastly, as the host of the EcoArts forum on the Ecological Design Collective, I bring attention to the links between art and environmental sustainability and the ways in which art and artists help us to see possibilities and potential for a better world.

My classroom teaching actively brings together theory and practice. In any of my courses students should expect to read and critique current and canonical texts, discuss applied real-life examples, and be able to thoughtfully apply what they learn to their own lives.