Joan Channick Appointed Associate Dean of Yale School of Drama

Yale School of Drama Dean James Bundy and Yale University Provost Peter Salovey are pleased to announce the appointment of Joan Channick as Associate Dean of Yale School of Drama, effective February 1, 2009. Reporting to the Dean and Deputy Dean of the School of Drama, Associate Dean Channick will participate in planning and management, with particular focus on student life, from recruiting and financial aid to professional development and post-graduate placement.

"Yale University takes great pride in the School of Drama's leadership role in theatre training and service to the field," says Provost Peter Salovey. "The appointment of Ms. Channick-an internationally distinguished practitioner-represents an important strategic step that will significantly enhance the experience of our students, both in the professional conservatory and in their careers."

"Joan Channick is an unstinting advocate for all practitioners of our collaborative art form: her passionate commitment to professional theatre training and practice has distinguished her work for more than two decades in the field," say Dean James Bundy and Deputy Dean Victoria Nolan. "We could not have a more talented or dedicated person in this job, and the fact that she is returning to the School full-time is cause for celebration."

"My deepest professional roots are at Yale School of Drama, where I received my own training in theater management and where I have taught part-time for nearly 20 years," says Joan Channick. "I am honored and delighted to have been asked to return to the School in this new capacity to help create the best possible circumstances for developing the next generation of theatre professionals."

Joan Channick is currently in her third season as Managing Director of New Haven's Long Wharf Theatre. She worked previously as Managing Director of Theatre Communications Group (TCG), a New York-based national service organization for the not-for-profit professional theatre field, in which capacity she also served as Director of the U.S. Center of the International Theatre Institute. Other positions she has held include Associate Managing Director of Center Stage in Baltimore and Marketing Director of the Yale Repertory Theatre. Preceding her theatre career, she practiced securities litigation with the Boston law firm of Gaston Snow & Ely Bartlett. Joan is currently on the board of the National Corporate Theatre Fund and has served on the boards of the League of Professional Theatre Women, the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas, the American Theatre Exchange Initiative, the Summer Cabaret at Yale, and Chase Brexton Health Services. She has also been a member of the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO, the International Theatre Institute executive council, and the League of Resident Theatres executive committee. She has written for American Theatre magazine and is the author of "The Changing Legal Environment for the Arts," a chapter in the book The Art of Governance, published by TCG. Joan has taught in Goucher College's arts administration program and is on the faculty of Yale School of Drama's theatre management program, where she teaches a course on legal issues in the arts. She is a graduate of Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and Yale School of Drama.