May 6, 2026
Associate Professor of Practice of Acting Christin Davis has been selected for the 2026 Dads’ Association Centennial Teaching Fellowship. The program acknowledges professional-track faculty members primarily engaged in freshmen instruction and celebrates innovative instructional approaches and impactful student engagement, including mentorship and advising.
“Professor Davis possesses an unusually broad range of content expertise within the field of acting,” said Peter Carpenter, chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance. “She’s unique in her ability to lead curriculum in scene study, movement training and voice training. In most institutions, faculty are sequestered to one of these three subareas of acting, and it’s rare that a faculty member teaches in a second. The fact that Professor Davis has been incredibly successful across all three subareas is a testament to her content knowledge and facility as an educator.”
Davis joined the Department of Theatre and Dance in 2016. She currently serves as head of the Acting program, and she previously served as co-head of the B.A. in Theatre and Dance program.
Her approach to teaching is student-centered, and she works to create a safe space where her students can feel empowered to experiment and take risks. In 2023, she spearheaded a new training for first-year B.F.A. in Acting students to address skills in setting boundaries, communication, interpersonal relationships, mental health and conflict management. She partnered with UT’s Title IX office, as well as CARE counselors, to create a workshop series to help students learn to explicitly name and explore difficulties that come up in a craft that asks them to use their own bodies and experiences as raw materials and to provide them with concrete skills to navigate potentially challenging situations.
“As actors, we are always using ourselves in our work,” Davis said. “No matter how transformative the role, our performances are always made up of the raw materials of ourselves: our bodies, voices, imaginations and experiences. This can be a tricky, sometimes scary, truth to navigate, especially in the formative college years and especially in the freshman year. I take great care at the top of every semester to build a culture of safety, trust, respect and choice so that students feel empowered to make healthy choices when navigating this reality.”
Course evaluations show consistently high scores and positive feedback from students that note Davis’ attention to course planning, thoughtful facilitation of activities and feedback sessions, openness to engaging the holistic needs of students and patience. Students recognized Davis’ work ethic and thorough preparation as effective professional modeling to emulate, while also articulating feelings of appreciation, connection and a sense that coursework is meaningful and immediately translatable to their career aspirations.
“In the classroom, Christin is supportive and precise — her feedback is clear, actionable, and loving,” said recent alumna Hannah Nelson (B.A., Theatre and Dance, 2025). “She sees students’ strengths and is quick to name them, and she easily identifies how to support their growth and development within an academic setting.”
Beyond the classroom, Davis sees mentorship as an extension of teaching and creates many opportunities for students to seek 1/1 support and counsel from her. She mentors all first-year B.F.A. in Acting students and meets with each student at least once a semester to check in on how they’re succeeding and to help them articulate areas for growth. She keeps her office stocked with plants, books, exercise tools and snacks to create a safe, inviting space for students to drop in anytime.
“Christin dedicates extraordinary time and energy to orienting freshmen artists to both
the department and the university at large,” said Corey Allen, assistant professor of Acting. “She leads a yearly initiative designed to create a welcoming and transparent orientation process, connecting incoming students with upperclassmen and encouraging mentorship relationships that extend beyond formal coursework and rehearsals. These efforts help demystify the program, reduce isolation and foster a sense of belonging early in students’ academic careers — outcomes that are especially critical during the first semester.”