Teaching & Research | Keidra Daniels Navaroli, Ph.D.

Teaching

Courses & Curriculum Development

Recent teaching appointments at the University of Central Florida, spanning American art history, African American art, and digital humanities methods.

Visiting Instructor, School of Visual Arts and Design

University of Central Florida · 2026 – Present

Courses: History of Western Art I (ARH 2050), History of Western Art I Honors (ARH 2050H), American Art (ARH 3610), African American Art (ARH 3631), History of Immersive Experience (ARH 3880), Nineteenth Century Art (ARH 4430), Southern Folk Arts (ARH 3683)
Topics: art historical methodologies (entry to senior level), American social history, Indigenous studies, African American representation, museum practice, global modernisms, digital art history

Adjunct Instructor, School of Visual Arts and Design

University of Central Florida · 2023 – 2026

Courses: American Art (ARH 3610), African American Art (ARH 3631), Twentieth Century Art (ARH 4450), Nineteenth Century Art (ARH 4430)
Topics: art historical methodologies, American social history, Indigenous studies, African American representation, museum practice, global modernisms, digital art history

Guest Lecturer, History of Textiles (PGTX 5085)

Parsons School of Design, The New School · 2022

With Dr. Sandra Sider, Lecturer in Textiles.
Topics: textile history (pre-1950), contemporary textiles, curatorial practice

Graduate Teaching Assistant, Nicholson School of Communication and Media

University of Central Florida · 2022

Course: Tools for the Digital Humanities (DIG 3171), with Dr. Emily Johnson, Assistant Professor of Games and Interactive Media
Topics: online publishing platforms, digital curation, inclusive practice in technology

Research

Education

Keidra earned her Ph.D. in the Texts and Technology program at the University of Central Florida in 2026, specializing in Public History. Her dissertation, "Hidden Gem, Fraught Liability, or Visible Asset? The Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville," passed with distinction and was supervised by Dr. Keri Watson, Dr. Scot French, Dr. Amy Giroux, and Dr. Mora Beauchamp-Byrd. The project uses inclusive, culturally responsive frameworks to evaluate how academic and college museums are perceived and valued within their host institutions, pairing art historical analysis with data-driven methods.

Select Talks & Presentations

Presenter

"Swagga Like Us:" Clothing, Culture, and Rhetoric in the Fiber Portraits of Kandy G. Lopez

Painted Garments Symposium, Camberwell College of Arts, University of the Arts London · 2026
Presenter

Fraught Liabilities, Visible Assets, or Hidden Gems? Evaluating and Visualizing Academic Museums and Galleries in Florida

Data-Driven American Art Histories, Southeastern College Art Conference · 2025, Cincinnati, OH

Dissertation research on how academic museums and galleries are positioned and perceived within their host institutions across Florida.
Keynote Panelist

Celebrating Ten Years of Panorama: Journal of the Association of Historians of American Art

Eighth Biennial Symposium of the Association of Historians of American Art, Birmingham Museum of Art · 2024
Co-Presenter

This is America: Re-viewing the Art of the United States

Museums Today Series, George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum · 2023

A discussion, with co-author Keri Watson, of the development of their inclusive survey of American visual culture and strategies for engaging its themes with public audiences.
Panelist

REALity of Artificial Intelligence

UCF Center for Ethics, Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts · 2023

A cross-disciplinary conversation on AI, art, and creative ethics, with the Center for Computer Vision and the School of Visual Arts and Design.

Curatorial Practice

Selected Exhibitions & Projects

Curator

Histories in Thread: Honoring Heirlooms in Contemporary Quilting

Orange County Regional History Center, Orlando, FL · August 1 – October 5, 2026

Seven nationally and internationally recognized textile artists, curated in partnership with the Quilt of Souls Historical Preservation Project.
Guest Co-Curator

Intertwined: Labor and Technology in Contemporary Textile Art

Museum of Fine Arts, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL · August 31 – December 16, 2023
Guest Curator

Chakaia Booker: Surface Pressure

Sarasota Art Museum, Ringling College of Art and Design, Sarasota, FL · July 16 – October 29, 2023

Featured in Forbes, July 2023.
Curator

Designed to Mobilize: Propaganda Kimono 1920–1945

Ruth Funk Center for Textile Arts, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL · January 26 – May 4, 2019

Silver Award, Southeastern Museums Conference "Excellence in Exhibitions," 2019.

Publications

Recent Writing

2026

"From Founders to Futures: Forging a Culture of Art at Lehigh"
In Creativity & Connection: Lehigh University Art Galleries at 100, edited by Mark Wonsidler. Munich: Hirmer Publishers, 2026.
2026

Call and Response: DEIA Tensions in Scholarship, Practice, and National Identity
Introduction to Colloquium (with Frederica Simmons), Panorama: Journal of the Association of Historians of American Art 12, no. 1 (Spring 2026)
2023

This is America: Re-viewing the Art of the United States
Oxford University Press · Coauthored with Keri Watson. Winner, 2024 Textbook & Academic Authors Association "Most Promising New Textbook" award.
2025

Review of Is Now the Time for Joyous Rage? A Series of Open Questions
caa.reviews, College Art Association · May 2025
2025

Out of the Closet: A Bogeyman for the Internet Age
Contemporary Legend 4, no. 3 (2025): 56–77
2024

A Look Back: Thirty Years of AmArt-L
Panorama: Journal of the Association of Historians of American Art 10, no. 2 (Fall 2024)
2024

Control+Shift: The Digital Carpets of Shaheer Zazai
Selvedge Magazine 120 (September 2024): 20–23
2023

Review of In Conversation: Will Wilson
Panorama: Journal of the Association of Historians of American Art 9, no. 1 (Spring 2023)

Recognition

Honors & Affiliations

Honors & Awards

McKnight Doctoral Fellowship — Florida Education Fund, 2021 – 2026
Texts and Technology Conference Travel Award — University of Central Florida, 2023, 2025, 2026
College of Graduate Studies Presentation Fellowship — University of Central Florida, 2023, 2024, 2025
Inductee, Order of Pegasus — Office of the President, University of Central Florida, 2024
"Most Promising New Textbook" Award — Textbook & Academic Authors Association, for This is America, 2024
Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Award — Southeastern College Art Conference, 2023
Silver Award — SEMC "Excellence in Exhibitions," for Designed to Mobilize: Propaganda Kimono 1920–1945, 2019

Leadership & Affiliations

Mennello Museum of American Art — Trustee (Mayoral Appointment), City of Orlando, 2024 – Present
Association of Academic Museums and Galleries — Board Member; Conference Planning & Programs Committees
Surface Design Association — Board of Directors
Textile Society of America — IDEA Committee
Panorama: Journal of AHAA — Editorial Board; DEI/Digital Art History Manager
American Alliance of Museums — Member
Association of Art Museum Curators — Member
Digital Art History Society — Member

Keidra DanielsNavaroli, Ph.D.