Candidate for
Associate Professor of Acting
Mentorship.
After a career of over four decades as a professional actor and professor of acting, I have repeatedly looked back fondly on the individuals who mentored me. My gratitude is truly boundless. I consider them to be the very foundation of what I have been lucky enough to accomplish as an artist and educator. Beginning as early as high school, it was those teachers who encouraged my passion for the craft of acting, gave very
honest and direct feedback, shared their wisdom, supported my belief in myself as an artist and a HUMAN BEING, and instilled lessons about the business sense and work ethic necessary for success that I have relied on over and over again. Even today, I feel like they are still with me, though most have passed on. Yet I still see their faces and hear their voices as the journey they so brilliantly prepared me for continues.
Thus, when faced, as a professor of acting, with young artists with the same passion I had (and, yes, along with the insecurities and fears that come with it), and looking for that same level of support, I am compelled to extend those lessons in the same manner they were extended to me. This has been my MENTORSHIP goal at UNT, dating all the way back to the time when I was an Adjunct Professor—to keep that circle of empowerment going and to hold my students to the high standard I know they will need. To let them know that their success truly matters to me and that I am in their corner.
​
As part of this tenure review process, I was asked by UNT to provide what they described as “proof of mentorship.” It forced me, unexpectedly, to turn to graduates and ask them about their experiences at UNT and how those experiences prepared them for their current path. Their words moved me deeply and echoed the same ones I would use about my own mentors. It is with great humility that I share their words here.
​
Click the buttons below for statement of mentorship from former students.