Matt Omasta, Chair
Chair 5/1/2024 - 4/30/2026
Matt Omasta is Professor and Chair of the Department of Theatre at Miami University of Ohio. The author of many books and articles related to the arts and education, he has been recognized with the Founders Award from the Educational Research Association; the Johnny Saldana Outstanding Professor of Theatre Education Award, Lin Wright Special Recognition Award, and Research Award from the American Alliance for Theatre & Education (AATE); as well as Teacher of the Year, Mentor of the Year, and Outstanding Undergraduate Research Mentor Awards from Utah State University. Dr. Omasta teaches courses in drama pedagogy, theatre for young audiences, applied theatre, and theory history, literature, theory, and criticism. Dr. Omasta is an active leader in national organizations and has served on AATE’s Board of Directors, the American Society for Theatre Research’s Executive Committee, and as Chair of the American Educational Research Association (AERA)'s Arts & Learning Special Interest Group.
matt@mattomasta.com
Joy G. Bertling, Immediate Past Chair
Immediate Past Chair 5/1/2024 - 4/30/206
Joy G. Bertling is Associate Professor of Art Education at the University of Tennessee and principal investigator on The Data Visualization Project, a project funded by the United States Department of Education. Her research engages with critical place-based art education and other arts-based ecopedagogies including how they can intersect with data visualization practices. She has published articles in various peer-reviewed journals including Studies in Art Education, International Journal of Education through Art, International Journal of Education & the Arts, and Art Education. Her recent research article, “A Portrait of Environmental Integration in United States K-12 Art Education,” was published in Environmental Education Research. In addition to serving as Immediate Past Chair of the American Educational Research Association’s Arts and Learning Special Interest Group, she currently serves as founding chair of the National Art Education Association’s Ecology and Environment Interest Group. She also currently serves on the editorial boards of Art Education and Arts Education Policy Review.
jbertlin@utk.edu
Sarah Travis, Program Chair
Program Chair 5/1/2024 - 4/30/2026
Sarah Travis is Assistant Professor and Program Chair of Art Education in the School of Art and Design at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a former K-12 art teacher from New Orleans. Dr. Travis uses narrative, phenomenological, and arts-based inquiry methods to critically examine issues around identity and experience and to explore how art education can be an active process of resistance to oppression that is also a pathway for joyful, creative, and collaborative agency. She has published journal articles in Art Education, Studies in Art Education , The Urban Review, International Journal of Education & the Arts, Journal for Cultural Research in Art Education, and Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy. Dr. Travis is Co-Editor of the journal Visual Arts Research, published by University of Illinois Press. In addition, she is co-editor of the books Pedagogies in the Flesh: Case Studies on the Embodiment of Sociocultural Differences in Education (Palgrave, 2018) and Experiments in Art Research: How Do We Live Questions Through Art? (Routledge, 2024).
stravis2@illinois.edu
Michelle Zoss, Research Awards Chair
Research Awards Chair 5/1/2025 - 4/30/2026
*Bio forthcoming*
Julie Snyder, Secretary/Treasurer
Secretary/Treasurer 5/1/2025 - 4/30/2027
Gulzan Oralova, Graduate Student Representative