Olu Oguibe is an internationally recognized artist, writer, and curator in Rockville, Connecticut. Oguibe is a Professor at the Institute for African American Studies and the Departments of Art and Art History at the University of Connecticut, where he teaches studio practices and art theory. He graduated summa cum laude and valedictorian at the University of Nigeria in 1986 and received his Ph.D. in the history of contemporary art from the University of London in 1992. Since then, he has taught at the School of Oriental and African Studies and Goldsmiths College, both of the University of London, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and the University of South Florida, where he held the Stuart Golding Endowed Chair in African art.
Dr. Yedalis Ruíz is a first-generation Puertorriqueña scholar-practitioner and has been involved with Real Art Ways since she was 13. She serves as the Chief Workforce Development Officer and Executive Director of the Tania M. Barber Learning Institute at Caring Health Center in Springfield, MA, where she leads the development and implementation of a workforce development model designed to enhance the success, retention, and personal development of a diverse employee body in community health. Dr. Ruíz holds a bachelor’s degree from Mount Holyoke College and a master’s and PhD from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is a graduate faculty affiliate at UMass Amherst and has been an adjunct professor at Bay Path University since 2013.