LOIS HUNTER

Chair of the Theatre Department, Lois Hunter has been an arts educator and arts education advocate for nearly 40 years in California's secondary schools. Her professional stage and film credits include Pal Joey, starring Lena Horne at the Ahmanson Theatre; Glasshouse at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre; West Side Story, Finian's Rainbow, Lil Abner, and No Strings at the Westminster Summer Theatre; the made-for-TV movie, Forever; The Streets of San Francisco; Rodney Dangerfield's No Respect video; and several voice-overs for Red Zinger Teas.

For her stage work with teens, Mrs. Hunter received the coveted California Senate Arts Commendation. In 1992 she won the prestigious Los Angeles Music Center Bravo Award for outstanding secondary arts teacher. Mrs. Hunter was selected to be the director for the UCLA California Arts Project, providing professional development in arts education to classroom teachers and professional artists.

She has published articles that focus on access and equity in arts education for children. Mrs. Hunter was one of the writers of the California Visual and Performing Arts Framework. She was a member of the California State Superintendent of Public Instruction’s Arts Education Task Force that produced the report, ARTSWORK, which addresses the need for arts education in California’s public schools. She is one of the original members of the California Arts Standards and Assessment Committee and served on the boards of the Los Angeles Blue Ribbon Commission on the Arts and the Educational Outreach Program for the Geffen Playhouse.

Mrs. Hunter is a member of the Los Angeles Music Center Education Council, and was on the original steering committee for the Los Angeles County Arts Commission’s Arts for All. Selected by the National Committee of the NAACP, she was a judge for the ACT-SO Acting Category at the convention held in Los Angeles in 2011. Mrs. Hunter is a member of the Drama Teachers Association of Southern California (DTASC) and the California Educational Theatre Association (CETA).

Under her direction, the LACHSA Theatre Department was selected by the American High School Theatre Festival to perform at the 2009 Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland. She received rave reviews for the school's entry at the festival of the critically acclaimed musical, Runaways. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors presented Mrs. Hunter with a Special Commendation, recognizing her excellence in "Theatre Arts Education" in 2009. In 2012, Mrs. Hunter received a special Commendation from Los Angeles County Supervisor Knabe in recognition for "dedicated service to the affairs of the community and for civic pride demonstrated by numerous contributions for the benefit of all the citizens of Los Angeles County."

Recently, Mrs. Hunter was appointed by the California Department of Education's Subject Matter Projects to be on the advisory committee for the California Arts Project. Mrs. Hunter is the recipient of the 2013 NATIONAL ARTIST TEACHER FELLOWSHIP (formerly known as the Surdna Fellowship Awards); and was named a U.S. Presidential Scholars Distinguished Teacher for 2013. Mrs. Hunter received her B.A. in Drama from California State University San Francisco; and her M.A. in Theatre Arts and Dance, with an emphasis on Arts Administration, from California State University Los Angeles.