Dr. Nikki Greene, ’89, assistant professor of the Arts of Africa and the African Diaspora, returned to Newark recently to speak at the grand opening of the new art space, Rutgers-Newark’s Express Newark in the renovated Haynes building on Broad Street. Her speech, the inaugural speech of the L&M Development Partners Lecture Series, focused on her life in art, her education and career as an art historian, her connections in the art world, and her upcoming book. She mentioned her experiences at Link (then known as Project Link) as being formative and encouraging. During her talk Nikki acknowledged her Link classmates who were in attendance, a former Link teacher (Sister Gertrude Dunham) and the current head of school (Maria Pilar Paradiso).
After Link, Nikki, then a Wight Foundation Scholar, went on to study at the Taft School, a private boarding school, where she had the chance to study in Barcelona, Spain, for her junior year. She then earned a BA in Art History at Wesleyan University, and a Masters and then PhD from the University of Delaware. Nikki is currently the Assistant Professor of the Arts of Africa and the African Diaspora in the Art Department at Wellesley College and is working on a book titled Rhythms of Glue, Grease, Grime and Glitter: The Body in African American Art. In November 2017, Nikki was the alumni speaker at Link’s A Taste of Newark benefit.
