Vernell A. Lillie
is an Associate Professor of Africana Studies. She has been a faculty member at
the University since September, 1972, Prior to this time, she was Project Director
of the Feasibility Study for Black Schools for the Department; teacher and chairperson
of the Speech and Drama Department in the public schools of Texas; and a group
work specialist in dance and drama for the Julia C. Hester House Settlement Association
in Houston, Texas. During her tenure at Hester House, she founded the Hester House
Experimental Theatre and its first children's theatre. She served as an instructor
of English, curriculum developer, and drama specialist for Project Upward Bound
at Texas Southern University, 1965-1969. She holds both the Doctor and Master
of Arts degrees from Carnegie-Mellon University in English, with specialized training
in training teachers who train teachers; a Bachelor of Arts degree in Speech and
Drama from Dillard University, New Orleans, Louisiana; and graduate studies in
Education and English at Texas Southern University. In addition to her traditional
academic education, she has been trained in psychodrama, playback theatre, and
problem-solving theatre by Louis Yablonsky, Zerka Moreno, James Slack, Hannah
Weiner, James Enneis, Ray Naar, Jonathan Fox, and Meg Givinish. In the summer
of 1989, she was awarded six hours of Continuing Education credits from The American
Psychological Association for study abroad at the University of West London. Her
academic foci are in the humanities (Black Literature and Theatre) and in psychodrama
as both a teaching and curriculum strategy.
: vawl@pitt.edu
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Africana Studies
University of Pittsburgh
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