Mary Schmidt Campbell, dean of the Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, today announced that Elizabeth Bradley has been named chair of and arts professor in the School’s Department of Drama. Bradley, who is head of drama at Carnegie Mellon University, will begin the three-year appointment on June 1, 2008. Kevin Kuhlke, who has been chair since 2001, will remain on faculty as arts professor.
Bradley’s selection follows an exhaustive search process conducted by the faculty of the Department of Drama during the past year. “The Drama Department’s B.F.A. program is designed to prepare our undergraduates for meaningful lives in the theatre,” said Dean Campbell. “Elizabeth Bradley, who has devoted seven years of superlative leadership to a drama program at a major research university, is uniquely qualified to lead our students as they face the myriad challenges in the American theatre. During the course of the search, she demonstrated a profound understanding of the complexities, possibilities, and opportunities that the Tisch Drama Department faces as it enters a new stage of its artistic and academic growth. She brings to the Department and to NYU a wealth of nearly 30 years of experience as a theatre professional and educator, and we warmly welcome her to the NYU community.”
Elizabeth Bradley has had an extensive career of nearly thirty years in the performing arts as a producer, presenter, arts executive, advocate, and international cultural consultant. In addition to her duties at Carnegie Mellon, she inaugurated the Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts, begun in 2004, which introduced numerous international multi-disciplinary performance works to Pittsburgh audiences, the majority of whom were between the ages of 18 and 35. In her native Canada, Bradley worked as a programming consultant for the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. She also served as general manager and CEO of one of Canada’s largest presenting organizations, the Hummingbird Centre in Toronto (formerly the O’Keefe Centre). At the Stratford Festival she was director of communications and special projects. Prior to that, she led her own production company as an independent theatrical producer. She began her theatrical career in New York as a theatrical agency assistant and producing apprentice. Bradley earned her B.F.A. from York University.