Ann Sofie Clemmensen

Program Director

Creative problem-solving is central to my artistic and professional career, something to which my experiential background is a testament. As a native of Denmark, I grew up with art, architecture, design, theatre, film, music, and dance as cornerstones in my educational development. As this was a time before the internet and smartphones, I edited music on cassette tapes and minidisks, made films using a camcorder and VHS tapes, and created many dances inspired by the rise of music videos.

I enjoy the creative process, which for me involves questioning perceptions and creating new realizations. As an artist, the exploratory process of investigating and organizing separate lines of information into one coherent whole is guided by my interest in the dancing body as a problem-solver that engages with the physical world and the resistance it provides.

Artmaking is a gateway for experimenting with composition and embodied ways of knowing. I teach students ways to engage in the craft of making that consider how one’s continually evolving understanding of the space and place one inhabits are established and maintained along with the possible impact and consequence.

Ann Sofie Clemmensen is a choreographer, educator, and performer. She has lived in the United States for the past fourteen years. Clemmensen holds a Bachelor of Arts in Dance and Pedagogy from the Norwegian College of Dance (Oslo), a Graduate Diploma in Contemporary Dance (Company Pathway) with Distinction from the Northern School of Contemporary Dance (Leeds, UK), and a Master of Fine Arts in Dance from The Ohio State University (US).

Clemmensen is an Associate Professor in the Department of Dance, teaching courses in contemporary movement practice, improvisation, composition, and interdisciplinary creative research.

[Photo by Michelle Ye | LAS’22]

Ally Kocerhan

Assistant Director (of Engagement)

My journey as an artist and a scholar is deeply connected to the Linehan program. I entered into the program in 2012 with a love for theatre and storytelling and was transformed by lessons I learned about curiosity, experimentation, and collaboration. These lessons shaped my understanding of what it means to be an artist and a person. I carry this forward in my personal and professional experiences by recalling what I have learned about community in order to see the many different, seemingly unrelated connections that create the whole.

Alexis “Ally” Kocerhan is a Linehan Artist Scholar alum who graduated from UMBC in 2016 with a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Studies and Gender + Women’s Studies. She holds a Master of Arts in Aesthetics & Politics from the California Institute of the Arts. Her graduate work included a written thesis analyzing the musical Hamilton and co-producing the collaborative performance piece “Acto,” which debuted in Havana, Cuba for the transnational art project El Acercamiento. Her past work in higher education includes roles in communications, humanities programming, and grants administration for the Dresher Center’s major initiative The Inclusion Imperative.

In addition to her role as Assistant Director of the Linehan Artist Scholars program, Kocerhan is a graduate student in the Language Literacy & Culture Ph.D. program at UMBC. Her current research examines the social and cultural significance of the American shopping mall, using theories and methodologies that bridge the arts and humanities.

Jacqui Lom

Administrative Assistant

Jacqui Lom graduated from McDaniel College in 2004 with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology. Upon graduation, she worked for several years in undergraduate admissions – first at Stevenson University, as Assistant Director for Enrollment Research and Technology, then at the University of Maryland College Park, as Assistant Director for Operations and Technology. After a long hiatus from higher education, Jacqui is delighted to be back on a college campus, serving as the Administrative Assistant for the Linehan Artist and Humanities Scholars programs.