Maria Elena Buszek, PhD, is a scholar, critic, curator, and associate professor of art history at the University of Colorado Denver, where she teaches courses in modern and contemporary art. Her recent publications include the books Pin-Up Grrrls: Feminism, Sexuality, Popular Culture (2006) and Extra/Ordinary: Craft and Contemporary Art (2011).

She contributed essays to the anthology Punkademics: The Basement Show in the Ivory Tower (2012) and the exhibition catalogue In Wonderland: The Surrealist Adventures of Women Artists in Mexico and the United States (2012), and she has written articles for Art Journal and TDR: The Journal of Performance Studies.

She has also been a regular contributor to the popular feminist magazine BUST since 1999, and with Kirsty Robertson recently edited a special issue of Utopian Studies on the subject of "craftivism." Her current book project explores the ties between contemporary activist art and popular music.

The Design and Craft Lecture Series is funded by the Wornick Endowment Fund.