STAFF

As Executive Director of the New Jersey Council for the Humanities (NJCH), Carin Berkowitz establishes the strategic direction for NJCH and serves as a passionate advocate for the humanities across New Jersey. She leads the efforts of NJCH’s Board and a talented staff of six to explore, cultivate, and champion the public humanities in communities around the state, with a focus upon diversifying New Jersey’s remarkable cultural sector.

Carin joined NJCH in 2018 after having served for eight years as the Director of Historical Research at the Science History Institute, a museum, library, and center for scholarship in Philadelphia. At the Institute, she developed a research center that responded effectively to a variety of constituencies, translating scholarly humanistic inquiry into meaningful and accessible programs in the form of public lectures, conferences, a book series, and a social media presence. She served as an elected member of the Nominating Committee of the 11,000-member American Historical Association (AHA), and is currently the local co-chair for the AHA 2023 annual meeting in Philadelphia; she has also been on the elected governing Council of the History of Science Society and is a current member of the Board of Trustees of ArtPride.

Carin has a B.A. in English Literature from Johns Hopkins University and a Ph.D. in the history of science from Cornell University and brings her love of interdisciplinary work to her role at NJCH. She has published extensively on the historical intersections of art, science, medicine, and pedagogy, including the monograph Charles Bell and the Anatomy of Reform and the co-edited collection Science Museums in Transition: Anglo-American Cultures of Display in the Nineteenth Century. When she is not at work, she embraces the joyful chaos of her household, with her two wonderful children and three rescue dogs, and seeks peaceful moments by hiking in wild and solitary places.

Gigi Naglak oversees and administers programs that serve New Jersey’s outstanding cultural institutions, including grants, Community History, and capacity-building workshops. She joined the staff of NJCH in 2016 after more than a decade in museum education and public engagement. Gigi has a BA in history and theatre arts from Drew University and an MA in Performance Studies from King’s College London.

Outside of work, Gigi is a theatre performer and producer, avid lover of the outdoors, and community advocate. She is honored to work with such thoughtful and creative institutions around the state to examine the past, consider our present circumstances, and imagine the future we wish to create.

Dan Armstrong has worked with NJCH since 2022. He brings 15 years of experience in communications, primarily in the higher education, K-12 education, and nonprofit sectors in the Midwest, Northeast, and Mid-Atlantic regions.

His work has spanned media relations, digital communications, and marketing communications efforts at large, small, and mid-size institutions. His work with the media has resulted in earned placements with the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, NBC’s Today, CNN, and other leading outlets, and his organizational communications efforts have been recognized with multiple statewide awards.

Early in his career, Dan was a newspaper reporter in Illinois. He earned a bachelor’s degree in English and sociology from Illinois Wesleyan University and a master’s in library and information science from Dominican University.

Valerie Popp, Ph.D. is the Program Director for NJCH’s Informed NJ, a program which funds, creates, and amplifies humanities-grounded work that raises media literacy and expands support for local journalism across the Garden State. She previously served as NJCH’s Director of Strategic Initiatives; in that role, she worked on programs including the Clemente Course in the Humanities, NJCH Sponsorships, Museum on Main Street, and NJCH’s signature events and community college convenings.

Prior to joining NJCH in 2021, she was the Senior Program Officer at the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) in New York City, where she played a lead role in administering ACLS’s $25 million portfolio of fellowships and grants for humanities and social sciences scholars worldwide. She also has worked as an institutional giving manager for national nonprofits and as a researcher for New York Times-bestselling financial journalist Beth Kobliner.

A proud first-generation college graduate, Valerie holds a B.A. in English literature from Yale University and a Ph.D. in English literature from the University of California, Los Angeles. Her publications span the fields of modernist and contemporary poetry, disability studies, and African American literary and cultural studies.

Joseph Szumowski supports the mission and programming of NJCH through development, strategic data collection, and advocacy. He joins the staff after serving as the Supervisor of Visitor Services at the Penn Museum, where he advocated for visitor accessibility and staff equity. Over the past six years Joseph has worked with over 12 different museums and historical sites across South Jersey and Philadelphia and is looking forward to applying that experience of connecting communities with cultural and educational experiences in the humanities.

Joseph has an A.A. in History from Rowan College at Gloucester County. When not at work, Joseph can be found instructing and attending community art classes, going to concerts, and exploring the wilderness.

Colleen Tryner supports operations across the NJCH staff, allowing the organization to achieve its mission to serve the New Jersey cultural sector.  She joins the NJCH staff after five years with the Alice Paul Institute (API), a South Jersey based non-profit focused on history and leadership. At API, Colleen held several roles, but her final title was Operations Director. In that role she managed the office workflow, bookkeeping, and site maintenance of a National Historic Landmark while being a connection point for volunteers, interns, and other community members.

Colleen is excited to bring her passion for management to NJCH where she handles bookkeeping, office management, procedure development and maintenance, and database upkeep. She has always loved the humanities, graduating from Rowan University with a B.A. in History and Art, minors in Art History and Business Administration, and a concentration in International Studies. Colleen was raised in Gloucester County and remains a South Jersey resident. When not at work, she can be found enjoying board games, tending to her plant children, and enjoying time with friends!

Sam Hege is a doctoral candidate at Rutgers University-New Brunswick and is currently working on a dissertation titled “‘The Winds of Money’: Race, Work, and Water in the Texas Panhandle, 1910-1985.” He is a historian of environmental justice, industrial agriculture, and water in the American west, with a special focus on how contests over resources shape the formation of political and social movements. He is committed to building environmental and social equity both in and outside of the classroom and is excited to work with the NJCH team and their wonderful collaborators throughout the state.

Sylvester Cruz coordinates NJCH’s programmatic efforts in grantmaking and capacity building. His work at the Council strengthens existing partnerships and cultivates opportunities for new ones by providing support to our grantee and awardee community. Playing a key role in managing the Council’s existing programmatic offerings, Sylvester works closely with current grantees and program partners to ensure that their needs are met, as well as collaborating with other team members to develop new programs that provide vibrant and thoughtful humanities opportunities to the people of the Garden State.

Sylvester is also a doctoral student in the English department at Rutgers University-New Brunswick, where he studies the overlap between literary and theological authority in the allegorical poetry of the English Renaissance. He is a first-generation PhD student, a dual citizen of the United States and the Republic of South Africa, and earned his undergraduate degree from the University of California at Santa Cruz. When he’s not at work, Sylvester enjoys playing chess, kickboxing, the outdoors, and exploring the sights, sounds, and flavors of South and Central Jersey.

Allie Marchesani is an intern at NJCH who supports the programs team by helping with grant evaluation and program development. She is a graduate student and History Fellow at Rutgers University – Camden pursuing an M.A. in Public History. Having received her B.A. in Archaeology and Anthropology from Lycoming College, Allie combines archaeological and historical sources in her research on gender and sexuality in nineteenth century urban spaces, with a focus on brothels and other meeting places of the “underground economy.” She is excited to apply her previous work experience in archives and museums to aid NJCH in uplifting the public humanities and engaging communities with their diverse histories. Outside of work, Allie can usually be found scouring the thrift stores of South Jersey for vintage items.

Xingming Wang is a Ph.D. candidate in the Comparative Literature Program at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. His dissertation research centers on fossil fuel narratives in modern and contemporary Chinese literature, examining literary responses to expanded global energy networks and their impacts on local communities. Driven by a commitment to promoting green education and environmental justice, he is enthusiastic about working with NJCH mentors to explore new avenues for raising ecological awareness and addressing the needs of New Jersey communities when facing climate change and natural disasters. In his leisure time, Xingming enjoys hiking, playing basketball, and improving his cooking skills.