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The Institute Residential Fellowship Program at the Clyfford Still Museum focuses on three pillars of study: art; education; and social enterprise. The Early Childhood Education Fellow will develop projects that would benefit from and contribute to the practices in early childhood education pursued by the Learning and Engagement team at CSM. Proposed projects would advance the development of new possibilities at the intersections of art museums, education, and early learning.
2025 Early Childhood Education Fellow
The Early Childhood Education Fellow selected to participate in 2025 is Dr. Kyong-Ah Kwon.

Kyong-Ah Kwon, PhD, is the Drusa B. Cable Endowed Chair and Professor at the University of Oklahoma. She is passionate about supporting young children’s learning and development in various contexts, including art museums. Her research examines how home and school environments influence early development. Dr. Kwon has secured over $6.3 million in grants, including for her nationally recognized Happy Teacher Project, which focuses on improving early childhood educators’ well-being and working conditions. She also leads the Happy Teacher Global Project in collaboration with scholars across five countries. She co-leads a national interdisciplinary group on ECE workforce well-being, serves on the steering committee for the Network for Infant Toddler Researchers, and is a guest editor for several leading journals in the field.
Early Childhood Advisory Board Members
- Cristina Gillanders, Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education, School of Education and Human Development, University of Colorado, Denver
- Sharon Shaffer, Founding Director, Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center, Routledge series editor, Global Perspectives on Children in Museums
Past Early Childhood Fellows
- Dr. Michael A. Barla, 2024
- Dr. Heather Kaplan, 2024
About Early Childhood Education at CSM
Learn more about Early Childhood Education at the Clyfford Still Museum by downloading this .pdf.