Mark Kittlaus ’12 has his finger on the pulse of Shenandoah University.
As both a faculty member and a doctoral student at SU, Kittlaus has built many different and rewarding relationships on campus, and intends to bring that experience and knowledge to the SU Alumni Board of Directors. He looks forward to sharing updates regarding new programs and faculty on campus with Shenandoah alumni.
As an assistant professor of theatre in the Shenandoah Conservatory and head of the Bachelor of Fine Arts acting program at SU, Kittlaus enjoys “working with the talented, motivated students who must audition to enter our program.” He has extensive experience in higher education, with teaching appointments at Brown University, the University of Pittsburgh and Montgomery College.
Bringing global and period traditions alive in the classroom and on stage is Kittlaus’ specialty. He uses global traditions, period acting styles and mask technique to improve the contemporary acting skills of his students. Bharatanatyam, a classical dance-drama form from India, is his area of scholarly research. Kittlaus presents papers regularly at conferences, primarily for the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) and their Association for Asian Performance (AAP).
It is part of Kittlaus’ mission to share his theatre skills and productions with the community. He teaches acting to high school and elementary school students through Performing and Visual Arts, Northwest (PAVAN), the Governor’s School program and the Shenandoah Conservatory Arts Academy. He also enjoys time with and efforts on behalf of his church, as well as the SU Childcare Center, which his two-year-old daughter, Tilly, attends.
Kittlaus has also had the opportunity to work his way through a new program at Shenandoah – the Doctor of Professional Studies in Organizational Leadership. He expects to graduate in 2012, and says the “well-structured, supportive program not only teaches students the graduate coursework exploring the field of organizational leadership, but also how to formulate and successfully execute the writing of our doctoral dissertation.” He credits Dr. John Goss, Dr. Dale Foreman and Dr. Catherine Shiffman as wonderful, supportive and challenging professors at Shenandoah.
As an alumnus of Brown and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Kittlaus has had positive experiences with two alumni associations, and is excited to now be active with the Shenandoah University Alumni Association. He would like to help in the process of cultivating post-graduation forms of communication with alumni, as well as perpetuate the successful programs and degrees at SU.
Kittlaus had the opportunity to participate in one of the programs at Shenandoah that is geared toward the “Going Global” initiative. He describes his spring 2010 trip to Peru through the Global Citizenship Project as a “life-changing opportunity, and those fellow travelers [to Peru] have become family to me.”
Kittlaus lives in Winchester with his wife, Jenny, and their daughter, Tilly.