Susan Pearson Papers

Susan Pearson, university professor, author, editor and director, was born in 1948. She received her BA in English from the University of Washington in Seattle in 1971; her Secondary Teaching Certificate from Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon in 1973; and her MFA in Theatre from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas in 1975.

Pearson's first teaching job was as an English and Drama teacher at Mountain View Junior High School in Beaverton, Oregon from 1972-1973. She also held the following academic positions: Teaching Assistant, Southern Methodist University, 1974-1975; instructor in theatre, State University of New York, Plattsburgh, 1975-1977; and Assistant Professor, Children's Theatre, University of Washington, Seattle, 1977-1982. Pearson has taught at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque since 1982, as: Assistant Professor (1982-1986), Associate Professor (1986-1996), Professor (1996- ), and the Chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance (2005-2009). Her courses taught include: acting, voice and movement, creative drama, children's theatre, theatre education, stage makeup, and playwriting for young audiences. She also directs plays and has premiered several new works for young audiences.

In 1990 Pearson was invited to be a guest lecturer at The University of Texas at Austin. During the summers of 1990 and 1992 through 1994 she was the Key Presenter at the Southeast Center for Education in the Arts at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, providing summer in-service training in visual art, music, and theatre for elementary and secondary teachers from six southeastern states.

In 1993, Pearson founded the Wrinkle Writing Project at the University of New Mexico and served as the Project Director from 1993 to 2002, and the Education Director from 2002 to 2003. This project is a continuing professional development program for teachers with the following objectives: to use creative drama to enrich writing experiences in elementary and secondary classrooms, to encourage the inclusion of playwriting in the curriculum, and to use dramatic performance to publish student writing.

As an active member of the national theatre for youth organization, now called AATE (American Alliance for Theatre & Education) and formerly known as CTAA (Children's Theatre Association of America), she held the following positions: Governor of Region 9, CTAA, 1980-1981; Vice President for Program, CTAA, 1983-1985; Editor of Youth Theatre Journal, 1989-1991; and President-Elect (1993-1995), President (1995-1997), Past President (1997-1999), AATE.

Her theatre for youth related articles are published in journals and books including: TYA Today, Youth Theatre Journal, Children's Theatre Review, Women in American Theatre, and Children's Theatre, Creative Drama, and Learning. In 1999 she edited and wrote an introduction and critical essays for each play for the book, Wish in One Hand, Spit in the Other: A Collection of Plays by Suzan Zeder.

Her honors and awards include: Albuquerque Arts Alliance BRAVO Award for Best Arts Educator, 1997; New Mexico Council of Teachers of English Award for excellence in English teaching for the Wrinkle Writing Project, 1998; and the University of New Mexico General Library Faculty Recognition Award for Outstanding Work in the College of Fine Arts, 2001.

Pearson was formerly known by the surname of Pearson-Davis.