Alisha Kerlin encourages dialogue about art and ideas through interdisciplinary programs and innovative exhibitions linked to wide-ranging community outreach. With full graduate faculty status, she received the UNLV College of Fine Arts Outstanding Administrative Faculty of the Year in 2017. In the same year, she earned an inaugural UNLV Top Tier award, confirming her academic excellence, creative activity, and pursuit of research befitting a Top Tier institution. Kerlin played a vital role in the Barrick’s transition from UNLV’s “hidden jewel” into an award-winning university art museum. She introduced practices that brought the organization of the visual art collection in line with international museum standards. Committed to making the Barrick an accessible resource for all, she has created initiatives that target both the academic community and K-12 schoolchildren. In the first year, the Bus to the Barrick program brought over a thousand visitors to campus, most of them for the first time. Kerlin also rebranded the institution by adding “of Art” to the name, solidifying the fifty-year-old museum as a gathering place for the creative community. A graduate of the University of Tennessee (BFA) and the Milton Avery Graduate School of Arts, Bard College (MFA), she connects the university to a top-tier cohort of emerging scholars and artists. Kerlin’s own artwork has been shown at institutions ranging from P3Studio at The Cosmopolitan, Las Vegas, to the Museum of Modern Art’s PS1 Museum in New York.