Lois Hunter,
Theatre Department Chair

      As a professional artist, Ms. Hunter has performed with a number of professional dance companies, the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, and with touring Broadway shows that include Seven Brides For Seven Brothers, The Wiz, and Pal Joey. She has also directed and choreographed numerous plays and musicals, taped voice-overs, appeared in music videos with Donna Summer and Rodney Dangerfield, and worked in television, film and print commercials.
      Ms. Hunter has been an arts educator for 25 years, teaching theatre and dance in California secondary schools. For her work with teenagers, she received the coveted California Senate Arts Commendation, The Los Angeles Mayor's Community Award and the Lehman Award. In 1992, she won the prestigious Los Angeles Music Center Bravo Award for Outstanding Arts Specialist. Ms. Hunter was selected by UCLA to be the administrator for the California Arts Project from 1993 to 1998, providing professional development for teachers in the arts and local artists for schools without arts programs. She is a consultant to the UCLA ArtsBridge Program, placing college students as arts teachers in Los Angeles Schools. She has written several articles focusing on the issues of arts education in the lives of all children and was selected to be a member of the State Superintendent of Education's Arts Education Task Force, producing a report, Artswork, that addresses the need for arts education in California's public schools. Ms. Hunter is on a number of advisory boards, including the Geffen Theater, Inc., and is a member of the California State Curriculum Commission, and one of the writers of "The California Visual and Performing Arts Framework" and "Prelude to Assessments in the Arts." She is one of the original members of the State's Arts Standards and Assessment Committees and serves on the board of the Los Angeles Music Center's Blue Ribbon Commission on the Arts.
      Ms. Hunter received her B.A. in English and Drama from California State University, San Francisco and her M.A. in Theatre Arts/Arts Administration from California State University, Los Angeles. She holds a California life teaching credential in English and Dance.