Lara Dossett Receives Department of Theatre and Dance Teaching Excellence Award

Assistant Professor of Instruction Lara Dossett has been selected as the recipient of the 2024/2025 Department of Theatre and Dance Teaching Excellence Award. This prestigious teaching accolade recognizes faculty members who go above and beyond to foster student success within the department. 

Dossett's creative and scholarly activities are driven by her pursuit to make the arts accessible for every young person (Pre K-16). She is the professional learning coordinator for Drama for Schools, a professional development program within the Department of Theatre and Dance, through which she leads the annual Summer Institute: Activating Learning Through the Arts for Austin ISD educators. Through drama-based pedagogy (DBP) and Drama for Schools, Dossett is committed to building intentional communities of practice and systems that support creative teaching and learning. 

Currently, Dossett is researching how drama-based pedagogy can be used within an innovative pedagogical model from South Australia called the Student Learning Community. In her research, she is interested in seeing how students' relationships to their teachers, their schools and the arts change if they are acting as researchers, teachers, advocates and artists alongside their teachers in order to transform their school. Dossett is currently writing about this work in a co-written book with Katie Dawson, Stephanie Cawthon and Beth Link titled Drama for Schools and Beyond: Transformative Learning Through the Arts to be published by Intellect.

Dossett’s continued excellence in the classroom, as well as her influential work in the field and leadership in the instruction of drama-based pedagogy set her apart as this year’s award recipient. She is a valuable mentor for students within the department, particularly in the Drama and Theatre for Youth and Communities area. Dossett is consistently looking for innovative ways to revise curriculum and expand the instruction of arts integration within the department, the College of Education and beyond the university.