2012-2013 Outstanding Lecturer: Kathleen Normington

2012-2013 Outstanding Lecturer Kathleen Normington (Peter Caravalho photo)

The Outstanding Lecturer Award recognizes a lecturer for excellence in teaching effectiveness and service to the San Jose State campus community. This year’s winner comes from the College of Humanities and the Arts.

Kathleen Normington enjoys staging guerrilla theatre performances on campus and in the community, where her students are taken out of the “theatre space.” Creating innovative approaches to learning outside of the classroom has helped her earn the 2012-2013 Outstanding Lecturer Award.

A lecturer since earning her master’s in theatre arts from San Jose State in 2004, Normington uses her 12 years of teaching experience to bring creativity to her students. She supplies the opportunity for them to genuinely experience theatre by providing them with the tools to put their coursework into practice and by teaching them to be fearless and to take risks.

One student said: “The engaging exercises and skills practiced and rehearsed during lecture and laboratory hours provide an open, supportive and safe creative environment where artists find themselves grounded, present and connected to the work and, perhaps most importantly, themselves and each other.”

“As a researcher, director and teacher Kathleen has a natural curiosity. It is her enthusiasm for and understanding of a broad spectrum of performing art that makes her such an eclectic artist and teacher,” said one nominator. “She also has an exacting eye. As a director, and really in every aspect of her work, she brings taste and specificity. From her understanding of language and story to her intuition about staging and character, Kathleen brings intelligence and restraint to her work.”

Normington’s service to San Jose State extends beyond the classroom. She has directed 11 plays at SJSU and four plays in the community. Normington is co-author of Simply Acting: A Handbook for the Student Actor and Simply Theatre: Appreciating Performance of the 21st Century, two textbooks that support courses taught at San Jose State. She was actively involved in revamping the theatre arts curriculum, and has created course certification reports. Normington serves as lead instructor for sizeable multi-section general education courses that are essential components to the theatre program.

“I hope that students realize that the humanity of theatre is what connects us all,” Normington said. “There is not just one way, but many ways to connect that in their lives.”

Normington earned a bachelor’s degree from UC Berkeley and a master’s degree from San Jose State.