New faculty appointments

​We are pleased to announce the appointment of two new tenure-track assistant professor faculty in the Department of Art Conservation at the University of Delaware: Nina Owczarek and Dr. Joelle D. J. Wickens.

Nina is a graduate of the Conservation Center, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. She is currently Associate Conservator at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (Penn Museum), where she has worked for nine years. Her primary responsibility is the evaluation and preparation of artifacts for travel and display on loan. In 2016, she managed the international symposium, Engaging Conservation: Collaboration Across Disciplines, in honor of the Penn Museum Conservation Department’s 50th-year anniversary. Today, Owczarek serves as Secretary/Treasurer for the Object Specialty Group (2016-2020) and is Chair of the Education and Training Committee, both of the American Institute of Conservation (AIC). She is a Fellow member of AIC.

Prior to the Penn Museum, Owczarek was a Smithsonian Fellow in Conservation at the National Museum of African Art, Assistant Conservator at the Gerald R. Ford Conservation Center, and Graduate Intern at the Freer and Sackler Galleries. Owczarek has worked on various other short-term and private projects and has extensive experience with archeological materials.

Nina looks forward to working with our students, sharing her knowledge and skills in the care and preservation of objects from archeological and indigenous environments, and developing new undergraduate and graduate coursework and scholarship centered on conservation practices and cultural context.

Joelle holds a PhD and an MA (Distinction) from the Textile Conservation Centre, University of Southampton, UK, and a B.A. in American Civilization from the University of Pennsylvania. Joelle co-founded AIC’s Collection Care Network (CCN) in 2011 and served as its first chair from 2011 – 2014. In 2016, she led the creation of a preventive conservation major for the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation (WUDPAC), and in 2018 began supervising WUDPAC’s first preventive conservation major. Most recently, Joelle has held the position of Preventive Conservator for Winterthur Museum, Garden, and Library, and WUPDAC Associate Director and Affiliate Assistant Professor for the University of Delaware.

As preventive conservator at Winterthur, Joelle has directed a museum-wide team of talented professionals who oversee all aspects of collections care, including storage and exhibition practices, housekeeping, and emergency planning. As WUDPAC Associate Director, her responsibilities have focused on curriculum oversight and support of student and faculty learning and teaching.

In her new position, Joelle will continue her commitment to the development and mentoring of faculty and students. Her research agenda will focus on the assessment of common teaching methods used in conservation and strengthening preventive conservation practices in small institutions globally.

Nina and Joelle are dedicated to student success, diversity and inclusion, and community engagement. They will bring many new and welcome opportunities to the Department of Art Conservation, Winterthur, and the University of Delaware – and the world -  in teaching, research, outreach, and collaboration. We will benefit greatly from their expertise and commitment to our profession.