NMAEA Leadership
The NMAEA Council at Large includes our elected Executive Officers, and our appointed Council Members, including chairs of our partnership student programs, as well as our division representatives and regional coordinators
Council: Division Representatives
Division Representatives represent and advocate the issues and concerns of their specific division level as they pertain to art education in New Mexico. They are a point of contact for the New Mexico art educators specific to their division statewide, regardless of membership.
Asher Marquez (He/Him), Pre-Service Representative
University of New Mexico, Undergraduate in Art Education
Asher was born and raised in Albuquerque. He is in his second year at the University of New Mexico in the Art Education program. Asher currently does not have a specific medium that he labels his specialty as he is still “exploring mediums”. He found his passion for working with children through volunteer work and babysitting for family. He hopes one day to work in a middle school or high school classroom teaching all about the wonderful things’ art has to offer the world.
Melissa DeMaagd (she/her), Elementary Division Representative
Albuquerque Public Schools, Elementary Art Teacher
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Melissa is an art educator with the Albuquerque Public Schools Fine Arts Program for the last eight years. She is a mentor teacher through the APS Mentor Program as well as a cooperating teacher for UNM. She believes creating art allows you to be human and enables a unique medium of self-expression. She loves weaving and spending time outdoors hiking, cycling and climbing. She got her masters in Art Education at UNM in 2015. She is excited about her new position as NMAEA Elementary Division Representative and looks forward to connecting with other elementary art educators across the state.
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Contact Melissa at elementaryrep@newmexicoarteducators.org
Pam Elam, Middle School Division Representative
Rio Rancho Public Schools, Rio Rancho
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Contact Pam at middleschoolrep@newmexicoarteducators.org
Jill Dooner (she/her), High School Division Representative
Explore Academy (Albuquerque), Art Educator
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Jill Dooner is a Level III Visual Arts teacher at Explore Academy Charter School. While working as a pastry chef with an undergraduate degree in art, she decided to go back to school for licensure to teach art, ultimately earning an MA Ed from the University of New Mexico. After spending nine years in the Rio Rancho school district, she chose to become part of of a fledgling charter school. Collaborating with eleven colleagues to create a school from a concept is a career highlight. Still at the school which is now in its fifth year, Jill serves as the department head for electives, and teaches classes in drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, sculpture, and mixed media.
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Richard Schwartz, Higher Education Division Representative
Eastern New Mexico University, Associate Professor of Music
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​Chair of the Department of Art and Professor of Music (Saxophone and Jazz Studies) at Eastern New Mexico University (2014-present), Dr. Richard A. Schwartz has served on the faculties of Boston University (1998-2002), Brandeis University (2002-2003) and Southeastern Louisiana University (2004-2013). An award winning and Grammy® considered saxophonist performing and teaching in classical and jazz genres, Schwartz has commissioned and/or premiered nearly thirty new works for saxophone, performed for regional, national and international events in North and South America and Europe and is the grand prize winner of the 1997 International Henri Mancini Institute Concerto Competition. Having performed for United States senators, governors, and President Ronald Reagan, Schwartz received the 2010 Southeastern Louisiana University President's Award for Excellence in Artistic Activity, 2017-2018 Eastern New Mexico University Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching, and 2021-2022 Eastern New Mexico University Presidential Award for Excellence in Service.
As a recording artist, Dr. Schwartz has produced two well-received albums: Embers: Music for saxophone with piano and electronics (Centaur) and Song for My Mother (SONY). Reviewed by Jazzwise magazine, Schwartz’s critically acclaimed album Song for My Mother displays his compositional and jazz expertise alongside recently deceased jazz titan Ellis Marsalis. Awarded three United States patents, Schwartz founded the music publication company SilverKeyMusic.com authoring the internationally recognized intonation tool The Tuning C.D. and several instructional guides with published contributions in The Instrumentalist, Saxophone Journal and International Trumpet Guild Journal.
A freelancing musician for over 25 years, Schwartz has performed featured solos with pop legends Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin and has shared the stage with recognized jazz artists including Byron Stripling, Diana Krall, Ernie Watts, John Clayton, Dave Grusin, Roy Hargrove, Bob Mintzer, Paquito d'Rivera, and Bill Watrous. Having also performed in orchestras, most notably the Mobile and Gulf Coast Symphony Orchestras and the Boston Pops, Dr. Schwartz has worked with an array of renowned commercial composers, conductors, and performers including Linda Ronstadt, Johnny Mathis, Ben Vereen, Keith Lockhart, Dennis Edwards (The Temptations), Johnny Mandel, and Samuel Adler. After performing the Boston premiere of Jan Curtis' Transformations for voice, piano, and alto saxophone in Jordan Hall, The Boston Globe declared, "…Richard Schwartz displayed extraordinary talent on the saxophone, sympathetically mirroring the voice and contributing his own improvisatory imagination."
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Contact Richard at higheredrep@newmexicoarteducators.org
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Matthew Contos (he/him), Museum Division Representative
​Director of Creativity and Learning, Site Santa Fe, Santa Fe
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Contact Matthew at museumrep@newmexicoarteducators.org
OPEN POSITION, Admin/Supervisor Division Representative
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Please reach out to one of our executive officers if interested in this position.
Nancy Walkup, Retired Division Representative
Emerita, Editor in Chief, SchoolArts Magazine, Davis Publications
RAEA President
NAEA Distinguished Fellow
NAEA Emeritus Art Educator of the Year, 2022
TAEA Distinguished Fellow
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Contact Nancy at retiredrep@newmexicoarteducators.org
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