Career & Professional Experience (CAPX)

Rebekah Champ
Interim Dean of CAPX and Academic Advising
Rebekah Champ is an artist, designer, and educator with a BFA in Printmaking and Drawing from Washington University in St. Louis, and a MFA in Studio Arts from the University of Minnesota. Her work considers landscape, both natural and constructed, through fiber-based materials and drawing.

Katharine (Kate) Schutta
Director
Kate came to SAIC for her MFA in Printmedia and Photography and has been here for most of her career, with the exception of a year at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow and later as a Canon Research Fellow at the Royal College of Art. She oversees CAPX programs and initiatives to help SAIC students develop the skills, experience, self-knowledge, and confidence you need to navigate your creative future. Kate maintains a studio practice and uses her time away for residencies, research and focused time in the studio. You can see her recent work on her Instagram and also check out the brilliant SAIC students, faculty, staff and alumni she follows! 

You can talk to Kate about:
Career curious? Need a resume makeover? Prepping for an interview? Working on an application? Not sure where to start? Kate is certified in the Strong Interest Inventory and CliftonStrengths assessments, among others and is committed to helping you be successful on your own terms. She helps students explore career options, secure internships, connect with professionals and alumni in fields of interest, develop and implement a strategy for a successful job search, pursue exhibition, residency, fellowship opportunities, funding, further education, and professional development.

Myia Brown
Assistant Director 
Myia Brown is a Chicago native with a degree in Studio Art from Saint Xavier University. She has over 4 years of experience in Residence Life from Saint Xavier University, Education First, and SAIC before coming to CAPX as the Office Manager. Her favorite part of her job is working with students. There is so much untapped wisdom and limitless humor! Her art practice centers around the individual in relation to self and the world around them. We are a culmination of our experiences and as we navigate the world, labels are placed on us. There is a saying that there are over a thousand versions of you based on how people view you everyday. The choice we all have is to either see the individual for who they are or pay attention only to the labels placed on them personally or by the system (society). Myia will be starting her MA in Arts Administration & Policy at SAIC in the fall to further develop her passion for the professional development and financial security of BIPOC artists. (mbrown23@saic.edu)

You can talk to Myia about:
Myia manages the operations of CAPX and is the primary CAPX administrative contact for students, alumni, faculty, staff, and external communities. She is responsible for office management and provides administrative support for the CAPX team. Myia also oversees all virtual platforms (Big Interview, Handshake), CAPX assessment and analytics, and budget oversight. Her favorite part of the job is hiring, training, and supervising CAPX student assistants. Myia can assist you with all things Handshake including scheduling appointments, gaining access to your account, and learning more about navigating the platform.

Younsoo Kim Flynn
Assistant Director of Employer Relations
Younsoo is an experienced higher education professional with over fourteen years of experience in curation, artist representation, gallery management, trade networking, and student mentorship. She was born and raised in Seoul, South Korea and moved to Chicago as an international student in 2004 to study at SAIC, where she received a BFA in Arts and Administration. Younsoo is always excited to discover new trends, technologies and creative job markets for student opportunities in our rapidly developing world. (ykim14@saic.edu)

You can talk to Younsoo about:
Internship registration, employer expectations, new and alternative employment opportunities, career guidance, and professional strategies. Younsoo has a comprehensive professional art background and is always eager to support students and alumni in achieving their professional and artistic goals.

Tatyana Scott
Internship Coordinator and Career Advisor
Tatyana came to SAIC to pursue her Masters of Arts Administration in 2020. She started working with CAPX as a Graduate Assistant and now works as the Internship Coordinator and Career Advisor. Tatyana maintains a personal painting practice, has belonged to artist cooperatives and has a commitment to community engagement and public programming. Tatyana has experience in both for-profit businesses and nonprofit organizations, and is excited to share insight from those experiences.

You can talk to Tatyana about:
Finding and applying for internships, interview prep, refining application materials, and career paths. She can talk to you about the SAIC Internship Stipend program. Tatyana helps students at any point in their career.

Betsy O’Brien
Program Coordinator and Career Advisor 
Betsy is an arts professional with over ten years of experience. She first came to SAIC as a transfer student to pursue a BFA. Since graduating she has held multiple positions at both AIC and SAIC. In addition to her roles in the arts she is also an experienced marketeer having worked on social media strategy for Allstate Identity Protection and press releases for Chicago based art gallery, DOCUMENT. She believes the arts are critical to understanding ourselves and our present moment and is passionate about working with student artists. Currently she serves on the board of Chicago based non-profit, Black Marigolds. 

You can talk to Betsy about:
Career guidance. As an SAIC alum who pursued a different path than her area of study, Betsy is eager to work with students who are anxious or unsure about what their future holds. Whether you know your dream career, or not, she can assist you in taking the next step on your journey. Betsy helps students tailor their resumes and CVs, application materials, and online presence to align with their professional goals. She has extensive experience working with galleries and non-profit organizations.

Alice Matthews
Internship Stipend Coordinator
Alice came to SAIC in 2020 to pursue the Dual MA Degree in Art History and Arts Administration & Policy and started working with CAPX as a graduate assistant before transitioning to her full time role as the Internship Stipend Coordinator. She is passionate about advocating for the role of artists across all fields and work environments. Alice is particularly excited about supporting artist run, DIY spaces and is always looking to collaborate with other artists and arts workers to organize exhibitions and programs. (amatth6@saic.edu)

You can talk to Alice about:
Drafting and revising application materials, the Internship Stipend Program, researching possible internship opportunities.

Catie Burril
Office Coordinator
Catie is an artist, community builder and creative professional.  Prior to coming to SAIC, she worked in the entertainment industry as a private chef after earning a certification in Culinary Arts from Le Cordon Bleu College in Scottsdale, Arizona.  She has worked in nearly every major & minor city in the U.S. and internationally in Tuscany, Italy.  She is most influenced by her time traveling with a traditional three-ring circus. Catie maintains a personal art practice that revolves around faux fur, horses, carnivals, parades, puppeteering and civic engagement. She earned a BFA from SAIC where she concentrated in the Fiber and Material Studies department.  Catie is always eager to meet new people and discuss the abundant amount of opportunities in this magnificently wide world. (cburri@saic.edu)

You can talk to Catie about:
Catie can assist you with all things Handshake including scheduling appointments, gaining access to your account, learning more about navigating the platform, and connecting to all the amazing resources CAPX has to offer!

Troy Briggs
Faculty Advisor
Troy is an interdisciplinary artist who has worked with canaries, black holes, forgery, marking the growing distance from the earth to the moon, and the trough and crest of waves. He believes that everything becomes more fascinating, complex, terrifying, and beautiful the longer we look into it. He received his BFA from Colorado State University in sculpture, was a working artist in Portland Oregon for ten years before coming to Chicago to study and receive his MFA from the Fiber and Material Studies department at SAIC. Troy has taught interdisciplinary art and design at SAIC for the last 7 years and has enjoyed meeting with and advising students and alumni in all departments through CAPX for the last 4 years, looking into it together.

You can talk to Troy about: 
Handshake. Goals. Finding an internship/job. Web presence. Portfolio. Cover letter, Resume or CV. You can meet with Troy anywhere in your process. If it’s your first time looking into and thinking through how to build habits and strategies in your professional life, great. If you have had a few internships and are getting ready to make the move to your first, second, third profession and want to shore up your material, great. If you are looking out over your desktop and realizing you need to work on your portfolio to present for a grant, apply to grad school, approach a gallery, or get a job teaching, great. Thinking through the fascinating, complex, terrifying, and beautiful questions you have is exactly what Troy likes to do.

C.C. Ann Chen
Faculty Advisor
Ann is an artist, having worked within the Chicago artist community for over 15 years. She first joined the SAIC community as a student, pursuing a creative shift from architecture to studio art. She is an alumna of the MFA program and actively maintains a studio practice. Recent work centers on the subject of landscape and experimenting with drawing to depict scapes from memory. This has led Ann to participate in research journeys in Campeche, Mexico, the Faroe Islands, and sailing the North Atlantic Ocean. She is an Associate Professor, Adjunct and teaches h in the Liberal Arts and Academic Spine Departments.

You can talk to Ann about:
Ann utilizes her creative and professional experiences to help students determine their own strategies, to transition to the workplace and build a sustainable career. She works with students, alumni, and faculty to identify individual strengths and skills for working in the arts and design community and encourage artists to seek out and establish ties in their individual professional networks. Ann is available to discuss questions regarding resume development, cover letters, artist statements and portfolios, as well as interview preparation and presentation techniques.

Kimberly Viviano
Faculty Advisor
Kimberly is a design professional, educator and artist. She interfaces with students and alums to identify individual strengths to provide direction related to professional development by connecting students to the greater art and design community. With a BFA from Kendall College of Art and Design Ferris State University in Illustration, she completed her MFA in the Visual Communication Design program at SAIC in 2006. Her experience in graphic design, advertising and digital technology has shaped her interest in multidisciplinary practice. Kimberly is a nurturing and collaborative mentor with a holistic approach to guiding students toward a variety of resources to find an individual’s optimal career paths.

You can talk to Kimberly about: 
Kimberly is a faculty member in Visual Communication Design. As a professional graphic designer, the focus of her practice is to use her creativity to bring about positive social change. Talk to Kimberly about career strategies/goals, resumes, cover letters, Handshake, finding an internship/job, web presence, and portfolios. 

Christalena Hughmanick
Fulbright Program, Grants, and Residencies Advisor
Christalena is a multidisciplinary artist making textiles and sculptural installations that become activated by public performance works. She has been a part time faculty member in the Fiber & Material Studies Department at SAIC for seven years through which she received an MFA in 2012. She was an Artist & Lecturer in Residence at the Moholy-Nagy Művészeti Egyetem in Budapest for the Spring 2019 semester. She is a recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship (’18/‘19AY), an Individual Assistance Grant from the US Department of State and a Grainger Marburg Travel Scholarship. Her recent public engagement project-Freedom Quilt Hungary-examined individual notions of freedom and democracy through collective quilt-making in Hungary. 

You can talk to Christalena about: 
Professional development strategies when applying for grants, residencies and research opportunities as a current undergraduate, graduate students and alumni. Are you considering applying for the Fulbright U.S. Student Program? As a recent recipient, she will review your materials and guide you through the application process while providing advice on the overall experience.

Reevah Agarwaal
Peer Career Advisor
Reevah Agarwaal is a multidisciplinary artist from New Delhi, India. She is currently an MFA candidate in the Printmedia Department at SAIC and received her BFA from SAIC in 2021 as well. In the past, she has worked in several arts administration and education roles for both nonprofit and for profit organizations such as SkyART, Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Spudnik Press Cooperative, Arts4All, and The Create Studio. She has also been in group shows around Chicago including at The Martin, Free Range, and SAIC Galleries, and has permanent public artwork on view in South Chicago.

You can talk to Reevah about:
Job and internship search, on campus jobs, cover letter and resumes, Handshake and LinkedIn profiles, how to network, creating a professional presence online, applying to graduate programs, and websites and portfolios.

Mahek Devra
Peer Career Advisor
Mahek is currently a junior at SAIC focusing in Visual Communication from Ahmedabad, India. She is really passionate about the work she does and loves engaging in conversations with new people. Mahek is also a member of the Student Government this year, trying to help improve the culture at school and be of support to the student body. In the past couple of years, she has done multiple internships in India and USA - she has worked with a Branding Agency, an IT Solutions company, and a Design Academy as a graphic designer and UX researcher. Her practice is primarily led by her passion to be able to make a positive impact.

You can talk to Mahek about:
Handshake. Goals. Finding an internship and/or job. Exploration. Resumes and Cover Letters. Career paths. Professional Statements. Websites and Portfolios.

Schetauna Powell
Peer Career Advisor
Schetauna Powell came to SAIC from Houston, Texas for her MFA in Designed Objects.She has a B.A. in English Literature from the University of Houston and a M.A. in Pan AfricanStudies from the University of Louisville in Kentucky. In the intervening years between her school and today, Schetauna worked as a Museum Educator at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. While there she taught object based learning curriculum to K-12 students across the greater Houston area, culminating in her first curated art exhibition featuring the work of her students. From there Schetauna worked as a Museum Consultant for the Houston Museum of African American Culture where she organized the Black Speculative Art Movement Conference between 2019 to 2020, titled "The Afrofuture" and "Perfect Vision" respectively. In her work as an arts advocate Schetauna maintains a Design Firm called Artivism Community Art that focuses on semiotics through object making. To support her practice, Schetauna produces the podcast "Afrofuturism in the A.M.”, which you can find on Spotify and other streaming platforms.

You can speak to Schetauna about:
Need help creating a Life Work Plan? Organizing project concepts? Creating a Strategic Plan? Help with your resume and cover letter? Schetauna is focused on having conversations that help clarify intentions. She works to cultivate practices of healthy leadership and community building.