Wittenberg University

Professor Earns Place in Ohio Educational Theatre Hall of Fame Setting Wittenberg University Apart

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio -Wittenberg University Professor of Theatre and Dance Corwin Georges will be inducted into the Ohio Education Theatre Association (OEdTA) Hall of Fame during a special ceremony at the OEdTA State Thespian Conference, March 22. Georges joins fellow Wittenberg theatre professor James Humphries, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame last year. Both inductions make Wittenberg the only university with two members statewide.

"Congratulations to Wittenberg for now having multiple faculty members earning this honor, providing a fitting testimony to their program," said David Leist, Ohio Educational Theatre Association (OEdTA) State Director.

For more than a decade, Georges has worked to bring educational theatre to the forefront of state curriculum reform in Ohio. From 1991-93 he served as chair of the State Arts Education Advisory Committee, a committee created to advise the Ohio Department of Education and the State Board of Education on matters relating to arts education. He was also one of the authors of Ohio's 1996 arts education curriculum framework, "Comprehensive Arts Education: Ohio's Model Competency Based Program." In addition, Georges was a contributing editor of "The Power of Arts Assessment in Teaching and Learning" and author of "Preparing to Teach the Arts: Guidelines for Teacher Preparation Programs" published by the Ohio Department of Education. He has conducted two surveys of arts education in Ohio, "The Status of Arts Education in Ohio's Public Schools-1996" and "The Status of Arts Education in Ohio's School Districts 2001."

He also participated as an arts team writer for "Common Expectations for Ohio's Schools," a document that establishes graduation outcomes in the arts for Ohio's students, and he is currently involved as a reviewer and adviser for the development of "Ohio's Academic Content Standards for Arts Education." From 1996-1998 he served as president of the Ohio Alliance for Arts Education and from 2000-2001 served as national chairperson of the Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education Network.

According to nominator Diana Evans Vance, Hilliard Davidson High School director, "Georges has worked quietly and diligently for well over a decade as an advocate for all Ohio arts students and without any thought of recognition."

In the nomination, Vance suggests that if people look across the names listed for arts education, specifically theatre, committees that are advancing the effort to ensure qualified theatre teachers in the classroom and promote valid theatre curriculum in Ohio schools, people will invariably come across Georges name. "He has simply worked with a passion to preserve and bolster what we all value," Vance said. "As a theatre professor at Wittenberg University, he has always ensured that theatre was at the table in all state level arts education endeavors."

The Ohio Educational Theatre Association OEdTA is a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating students and teachers about the dramatic arts, recognizing students' theatrical accomplishments and advocating for the arts. Each year the OEdTA invites adult members to nominate individuals for its Hall of Fame. The state board reviews each nomination and honors zero to four individuals at the annual State Thespian Conference. This year, four individuals will be inducted into the OEdTA Hall of Fame: Corwin Georges, Jane Armitage, Michael Barile and Betsy Martin.

Georges is an authority on child drama and creative dramatics. He has worked as an artist-in-residence in public and private schools and as a faculty member of WISE, Wittenberg's summer camp for talented and gifted middle school students. He has conducted numerous workshops for teachers on how to use drama in their classrooms and is the author of "Drama A-Z" and "Readers' Theatre for Children." At Wittenberg he teaches child drama, directing, improvisation and theatre history. In 1985 he received the Ohio Theatre Alliance's Outstanding Achievement Award. In 1987 he received the Wittenberg Alumni Association Award for Distinguished Teaching. Georges received his B.A. degree from Morehead State University and his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from The Ohio State University. He joined the Wittenberg faculty in 1972

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