Dr. Sally Shedd
Sally Shedd, Dean of the Susan S. Goode Department of Arts and Humanities, holds a PhD in Theatre and Film from the University of Kansas where she was a recipient of the Bill Kuhlke Humanitarian Award and taught in the department of Theatre and Film – to include teaching acting in Greece – as well as in Women’s Studies. She remains connected to her alma mater by serving on the KU Department of Theatre and Dance’s Professional Advisory Board. A native of Arkansas, Dr. Shedd also holds degrees from the University of Arkansas and Arkansas Tech University.
Previous administrative appointments at Virginia Wesleyan include service as Humanities Division Chair, Associate Dean of the College, Theatre Program Coordinator, Women’s and Gender Studies Coordinator and Chair of the Department of Political Science. For more than a decade, Dr. Shedd served as College Marshall.
A Batten Professor of Theatre, Dr. Shedd is proud to have taught in the Batten Honors College each year since its inception. She also regularly teaches Wesleyan Seminars and is a member of VWU’s Gender, Women’s and Sexuality Studies faculty. In fact, Dr. Shedd wrote and submitted the proposal to make Women’s and Gender Studies a major at Virginia Wesleyan back in 2003.
In addition to her academic background, Dr. Shedd has trained at the National Shakespeare Conservatory and the American Conservatory Theatre. She teaches a wide range of theatre courses at VWU including introduction to theatre, acting, directing, improvisation, and theatre history. VWU shows under her direction include A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Eurydice, Roe, The Waiting Room, Into the Woods, and Waiting for Godot. Her research and teaching interests include feminist critical analysis and gender performativity. Her dissertation was entitled Gender Traders/Gender Traitors: Staging Non-Traditional Gender Roles and Alternative Sexualities.
Dr. Shedd lives in Virginia Beach with her husband David.