Archaeological Heritage Network

Skyler Jenkins is an Assistant Objects Conservator at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) and the Chair of the Archaeological Heritage Network. She previously held postgraduate positions as an NEH fellow at the VMFA and a Kress Fellow in Archaeological Conservation at Colonial Williamsburg. Skyler is a 2020 graduate of the UCLA/Getty Conservation Program additionally has worked and interned at the Arizona State Museum, Benaki Museum, J. Paul Getty Museum, Penn Museum, Tucson Museum of Art, as well as archaeological projects in Arizona, Virginia, Italy, Greece, Turkey, and Cyprus.

Alexis North is a Museum Conservator at the Penn Museum, University of Pennsylvania. She is a graduate of the UCLA/Getty Conservation Program, and has worked at the Brooklyn Museum, the Michael C. Carlos Museum, and The Smithsonian National Museum of African Art. She has also worked as both an archaeologist and conservator at archaeological sites in Kenya, Greece, and Turkey. She is currently Vice-Chair for the Archaeological Heritage Network.

Morgan Burgess is a Project Conservator at the Penn Museum. She completed a Samuel H. Kress Fellowship in Objects Conservation at the National Museum of American History and an Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship at the National Museum of the American Indian. She has additional experience in the conservation labs at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Harry Ransom Center, Penn Museum, Fowler Museum, and field experiences at the Upper Sabina Tiberina Archaeological Project and the Mugello Valley Archaeological Project: Poggio Colla Field School. Morgan graduated from the UCLA/Getty Conservation Program in 2018.

Alyssa (she/her) is a Tucson-based Objects Conservator at the Western Archeological and Conservation Center, contributing to the care and treatment of National Parks collections. She graduated from the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation with a focus in Objects and Preventive conservation. Prior to her graduate training, Alyssa contributed to the conservation of collections in museums, historic homes, and with private conservators in New Jersey, Philadelphia, Boston, New York City, Wyoming, and Delaware. Demonstrating continued advocacy and leadership skills within he field, Alyssa serves as the Assistant Program Chair for the Archaeological Heritage Network since 2024. Perviously she’s volunteered as the OSG/ECPN liaison (2023-2025); on the Outreach Subcommittee (2021); as a Communications Officer for ECPN (2016-2018); and as the Social Media Chair for the Philadelphia Area Conservation Association (2018-2020). She is a member of AIC, the American Alliance of Museums, and the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums.

Gina M. Watkinson is the Conservator, Laboratory Manager at the Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona where she has worked since 2007. She received a BA from the University of Delaware Art Conservation Department in 2007, a MA in American Indian Studies with a graduate certificate in Heritage Conservation from the University of Arizona in 2013, and is currently in the doctoral program in the School of Anthropology at the University of Arizona. Gina is a Professional Member of the American Institute for Conservation (AIC).

Julie Unruh has thirty years of experience as an art and archaeological conservator. She has a conservation graduate degree from Queen's University, Canada, and has worked in museums in the United States and abroad. Her archaeological fieldwork includes projects in the United States, Europe, and the Near and Middle East. She has taught in graduate conservation programs in the United States and Iraq. Unruh operates a private conservation practice based in Austin, Texas.

Laurie King is an Archaeological Conservator within the Batten Conservation Complex at The Mariners’ Museum. Laurie received her undergraduate degree in Art History from the University of Virginia and received her MSc Conservation Practice from Cardiff University in Wales.  During her education at Cardiff, Laurie worked as a conservation intern at the Çatalhöyük Research Project in Turkey, working on Neolithic wall paintings, bone, and ceramics. After graduation, she completed a postgraduate internship at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, conserving both archaeological and decorative arts objects. Now at The Mariners’ Museum, she conserves artifacts recovered from the wreck of the US Civil War Ironclad USS Monitor, working with archeological metals, organics, and composite objects.

Melina Edic is a Graduate Fellow (Class of 2027) at the UCLA/Getty Interdepartmental Program in the Conservation of Cultural Heritage.

Samantha Springer is a conservator of sculpture and three-dimensional objects with a particular interest in working with living artists of contemporary art that are typically marginalized and underrepresented in Western institutional collections. As owner and principal conservator of Art Solutions Lab based in the Portland, Oregon area, Springer works toward providing ethical and practical solutions to collection stewards who seek the guidance of a conservation practitioner. 

Art Solutions Lab offers professional and high-quality consultations, loan & pre-accession evaluations, broad collection assessments, grant writing assistance, courier services, learning & lecture opportunities, expert evaluations for insurance claims, as well as preventive and hands-on treatment services for sculpture, decorative art objects, utilitarian artifacts, some textiles, installation art, and modern and contemporary materials. 

Prior to starting Art Solutions Lab, Springer worked as Conservator at the Portland Art Museum, where she was responsible for the preservation and direct treatment of the broad Fine Arts collection, establishing and maintaining a lab at the museum proper, and integrating conservation theory into everyday museum practices. This followed her work as Associate Conservator of Objects at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Springer graduated from the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation in 2008 and held internships at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, Art Institute of Chicago, the Field Museum, and Alaska State Museums. Her research and publications include preventive topics, the treatment of contemporary art, and collaborations with native basket weavers.

Bonnie Naugle joined AIC in 2012. As Communications & Membership Director, she manages AIC’s print and online publications. She oversees the membership team and manages member communications. She also manages AIC’s website and FAIC's web resources, and coordinates the blog and wiki. Bonnie holds a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and a Master of Public Administration degree.