Dr. Jesse Wren is an educator, qualitative researcher, nonprofit founder, adjunct professor, and storyteller whose work moves across classrooms, communities, museums, correctional facilities, and the outdoors. He teaches in the Lower School and serves as the Professional Development Coordinator at Riverfield Country Day School in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Beyond the classroom, he organizes TEDxRiverfieldCountryDaySchool, leads the Second Horizon Initiative to expand educational opportunities for justice-involved youth, teaches graduate students, and serves on the National Science Teaching Association Board of Directors. His work has taken him from Smithsonian museums and national parks to the Camino de Santiago and correctional facilities, each experience shaping his belief that some of our most meaningful learning begins with curiosity and a willingness to encounter the unfamiliar. Across these varied spaces, his work centers on creating opportunities for people to question, discover, and imagine what might be possible.

 

Marianna “Annie” Rubino, MFA, PhD, CCC-SLP is beginning her second year as an assistant professor in the University of Tulsa’s Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders. Dr. Rubino is a speech-language pathologist and researcher who focuses on the role of psychological factors in voice disorders. One current project is an investigation of personality and voice disorders using functional magnetic resonance imaging and questionnaires. Dr. Rubino also collaborates with acting voice experts to understand how aspects of acting voice training impact training outcomes. Before discovering speech-language pathology, Dr. Rubino was an improv, sketch comedy, commercial, and classically trained actress in New York City, Chicago, Houston, and Milwaukee. 

 

Morgan Myers is a junior at the University of Tulsa pursuing bachelor’s degrees in Computer Science and Data Science. At heart, he is driven by curiosity and by the belief that life is meant to be lived fully and learning pursued for a lifetime. Before attending TU, Morgan served nine years in the U.S. Army. Injuries sustained during his service changed the trajectory of his life and forced him to reconsider his relationship with himself and the world around him. Through introspection, mindfulness, and an earnest pursuit of his many interests, he has worked to rediscover the possibility and wonder life has to offer. Alongside his technical studies, Morgan writes fiction and poetry and pursues photography and filmmaking. Underneath these seemingly disparate interests is a core belief that all experiences and fields contribute to exploration within ourselves and the world around us. He is drawn to questions of human experience, meaning, and connection, and hopes to create work that is honest about both the struggle and beauty of being human while reminding others of their inherent worth.

 

Dr. Jingyi Chen is the Decker Dawson Endowed Professor of Geosciences in the McDougall School of Petroleum Engineering at The University of Tulsa. His research spans geophysical and environmental modeling, and the applications of machine learning to the Earth sciences. His interdisciplinary work has included projects supported by NASA, the National Science Foundation, Chevron, and the American Chemical Society. As a Wonder Fellow, Chen looks forward to exploring connections among scientific discovery, human experience, and the stories through which people understand the natural world.

 

Whitney Breshears, LPC, SEP, KAP is a Licensed Professional Counselor, Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner, and Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapist based in Oklahoma. As the founder of Somatic Healing Touch, she specializes in trauma healing through nervous system regulation, Somatic Experiencing®, Co-regulating Somatic Touch, and Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy. She is passionate about integrating neuroscience, embodiment, and compassionate presence to support lasting healing. Whitney has completed advanced training in Somatic Resilience and Regulation and will return to Seattle in 2027 to begin training in Transforming Touch®. Alongside her clinical work, Whitney finds restoration in nature- connecting with the trees, caring for her farm animals, and creating Hummingbird Farm-Oklahoma as a place where the healing power of the natural world and somatic practices come together. Her vision is to offer a welcoming space where members of the community can slow down, reconnect with themselves, and experience somatic healing in relationship with nature. She is honored to join the TU Humanities Fellowship and looks forward to exploring the integration of healing, human connection, and the humanities with this year’s cohort.

 

Maryalice Carroll is a ceramic artist from New Jersey and now lives and works in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Her work acts as a physical representation of the unseen feelings bodies experience under stress. Her work is abstract with textured glazes and often colorful. She received her BFA in Craft and Material Studies from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and MFA in Ceramics at the University of Arkansas. She has shown nationally including Studio Break Gallery, Chicago; Magic Sad Gallery, Oklahoma; MIXD Gallery, Arkansas; and Abington Art Center, Pennsylvania. She is also involved in a curatorial artist collective, Crust Bucket Collective, and has curated shows across the United States, Iceland, and online.

 

Isaac Castleberry is a screenwriter and a senior at the University of Tulsa double-majoring in Film Studies and Media & Communications. In high school, he earned his Eagle Scout rank, was the Academic Team Captain, and graduated as Valedictorian. During his time at the University of Tulsa, he has interned as a production assistant at OKPOP, worked with NYU Tulsa as a research assistant for their Film Landscape Survey, and participated in the D’Arcy Internship Program with Clear Content, a Tulsa-based media marketing business. He is the President of the Alpha Chi Chapter and the Collegiate Province Representative of Province 8 of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, the world’s oldest and largest secret national fraternal society in music. In his spare time, he enjoys playing music, watching film, engaging in criticism, and exploring political theory. As part of the Oklahoma Center for the Humanity’s Wonder Fellowship, he wants to explore the ambivalence of wonder in film as well as its social functions.

 

Annolee Thompson Schwartz is a 3L at The University of Tulsa College of Law, pursuing her Juris Doctorate. While in law school she has served as the Women’s Law Caucus Fern Holland Chair, a Student Bar Association Supreme Court Justice, Candidate and Articles Editor for the Energy Law Journal. She has also served as a Research Assistant to Interim Dean Marc Roark researching and writing on law, property, language, and institutions. She has taken every opportunity to research and grow in her studies including researching administrative remedies to land pollution in New Mexico, restrictive legal practices following the Tulsa Race Massacre, and legal functionalisms and formalisms of property ownership. As a life long learner, Annolee is grateful for the opportunity to examine and discuss Wonder in an interdisciplinary setting.

 

Christopher Rondeau is a speculative fiction writer and tabletop narrative designer whose work explores immersive worldbuilding and the storytelling potential of games. His contributions to the Tian Xia Character Guide and Tian Xia World Guide develop setting lore, character frameworks, and narrative structures that invite players to engage deeply with fantastical worlds. His forthcoming creative and academic projects examine ethics, play, and narrative design in contemporary storytelling. Rondeau is also a doctoral graduate student in English at the University of Tulsa, where he studies the intersections of literature, game theory, and narrative form. From 2018 to 2021, he was among the first full-time professional game masters, running tabletop role-playing games at major conventions, including Gen Con and Third Party Kon, as well as numerous other events. Learn more at rondeauwrites.com.

 

Matt Cooper is an Applied Assistant Professor of American Sign Language at the University of Tulsa. Born a CODA (Child of Deaf Adults) to two Deaf parents here in Tulsa, Matt could sign before he could speak. After graduating from high school in Owasso, Oklahoma, he attended Tulsa Community College and then Oklahoma State University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education – Science. He taught math and science while also working as an adjunct American Sign Language instructor at Tulsa Community College, beginning in 2017. He eventually transitioned to teaching American Sign Language at Broken Arrow High School before becoming full-time faculty at the University of Tulsa in 2022. In May 2026, Matt graduated from Oklahoma State University with a Master of Science in Educational Leadership Studies and a Graduate Certificate in College Teaching. This fall, he will begin his Ph.D. at the University of Oklahoma in Educational Administration: Curriculum and Supervision.