Noelle Rice is a graduate of South Carolina's Master’s program in art history. In her longstanding role as Curator of Collections at the Columbia Museum of Art, she has generously stewarded classes from the Art History area into the museum's infamous "Vault" for close viewings of objects in storage. Her willingness to work closely with the art history faculty has made for invaluable experiences with the museum and has allowed students behind the scenes where they would normally never get to go. Noelle's knowledge of the collection is unmatched. Her warmth in welcoming our students and answering their questions is deeply appreciated, and she is always a fun presence to boot, whether dealing with seasoned or first-time student visitors!
A native of Beaufort, SC, Josh Whiteside graduated in 2004 with a BFA in Graphic Design and Illustration. Since then, Josh has worked for Fortune 500 companies such as Dicks Sporting Goods in creative and branding and with Nike, Maxi, Top Flight, Dunlop and more. Josh was the Creative Director and Branding Lead for the Charlotte Hornets rebrand from the Bobcats to the Charlotte Hornets. Josh and his design teams at the SC Education Lottery have won more than 50 advertising awards since he became the Director of Marketing. At SC Education Lottery Josh oversees all marketing, advertising, and PR, which helps to generate over $2.5 billion in revenue a year. This equates to $600 million dollars in funding for education in the state of South Carolina. Since his graduation Josh has remained a mentor and advocate, sponsoring internships and hiring graduates from the Graphic Design + Illustration program.
Todd Herman is President and CEO of the Mint Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina, and an esteemed alumnus of the Master’s program in Art History. Additionally, he is well acquainted with Columbia from his 6 years as Chief Curator at the Columbia Museum of Art. At the Mint, Todd has overseen exhibitions that have expanded the reach of the institution in significant, thought-provoking ways.
Robin Waites is the director of Historic Columbia and a graduate of the MA program in art history. She is a tireless advocate for historic resources in Columbia and telling stories about its people. Her work has built an organization that has not only changed the landscape for historic preservation in Columbia, but also the midlands region and raised the bar for historic preservation across the state. She has tirelessly supported SVAD's students and programs, partnering with its faculty, providing internship for its students, and serving as an ambassador for doing great things with a degree in the arts. She is a leading citizen of the city and an exemplary alumnus for our school.
Sam Spina graduated in 2009 from the GD+I program. While at USC, Sam distinguished himself as a talented designer and gifted illustrator. Since then, he has made a name for himself an indie comic book artist and professional storyboard artist for Cartoon Network. He was awarded the prestigious Xeric Grant to publish an original graphic novel and he has self-published numerous volumes of his biographical comics in print and online. His comics led to being discovered and hired by Cartoon Network where he has worked as a full-time storyboard artist since 2015 on commercially successful shows such as The Regular Show, Infinity Train, and Apple and Onion. One of his original scripts, Hole, was selected by Nickelodeon and developed into an animated short for consideration as an original series. Since graduating, Sam has regularly shared resources and mentorship with our students interested in comics and animation.
Danny Hansen is the son of a former USC art professor and is a graduate of USC’s Art Department. Danny and his wife founded, own and operate The Crafty Celts, a very successful global jewelry business based in Bateburg-Leesville. Their work is based on medieval jewelry design. His work has been utilized by the film industry in Medieval productions such as Vikings and a new line has recently been adopted by Jim Henson Inc. inspired by the Dark Crystal.
Wade Sellers (BA '96, media arts) is a Columbia, SC based media producer and owner of the media production company Coal Powered Filmworks. For more than 20 years, Sellers has worked actively as a freelance cinematographer for independent documentary films, and on commercial projects for national brands. His filmography includes six major documentary projects as Director/Editor or Producer/Director.
Todd Herman (MA '96, art history) is a former Chief Curator at the Columbia Museum of Art, former Director and CEO of the Arkansas Arts Center in Little Rock. In 2018, he was named President and CEO of the Mint Museum in Charlotte, NC.
Adam Shiverdecker (MFA '09, studio art) is an assistant professor in Spatial Art [Sculpture] and the Program Area Coordinator at San José State University.