Malena Valencia

Malena Valencia is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Art & Art History at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNC Charlotte). She holds an MFA in painting/drawing from the University of Florida and completed an immersion language program at the Russian School of Norwich University, the oldest private military college in the U.S. Her teaching spans visual arts disciplines including painting, drawing, mixed media, design, conceptual art, installation/performance art, and art history, as well as liberal studies and honors-level humanities.

Valencia has extensive outreach experience, including teaching English Language Acquisition to refugees in the Florida Keys, collaborating with male inmates in a North Carolina jail, and teaching K-8 visual arts in Florida and North Carolina. Her artwork has been exhibited across the U.S. and Canada, and she has received grants from the NC Arts Council, NC Humanities Council, and Gallucci Creative Fund. She was featured in an interview with Charlotte Viewpoint magazine.

Her professional background includes prior teaching positions at institutions in NC, SC, TX, and FL, demonstrating a commitment to diverse educational environments. Though her personal website (malenabergmann1.com) is currently unavailable, her academic profile emphasizes interdisciplinary approaches to art education and community engagement.