Teaching Philosophy,
Practice, and Contributions
Dr. Howard is committed to providing a rich academic and scholarly background for her students. Further, she is committed to providing her students with practical training and learning opportunities to enhance their marketability. She has developed a leading undergraduate communication, performance studies program at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. The Performance Studies major at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor provides training in performance techniques for theater, television, radio, and long-distance communication. Dr. Howard’s students/alumni are serving in regional television studios, radio stations, and video/film production studios. Performance Studies students regularly perform poetry for Texas Nafas, an Austin, TX television poetry program. Her college competitive speaking and performance of literature students have not only competed and brought home tournament trophies, but they serve regularly as regional judges for various competitions.
Each of Dr. Howard’s Performance Studies students researches, writes, produces, and performs a one-person production of a great historic or contemporary character that can be taken to theaters, schools, libraries, museums, and churches or can be performed for television, radio, film, or distance, live performance. Performance Studies students are frequently paid for their regional performances and presentations for various organizations.
Dr. Howard has developed curricula for more than twenty college, communication, performance studies, and theatre courses. She has designed, developed, and delivered educational research, curriculum development, and programs for BellNET, an educational videoconference network. She has developed presentations and provided distance, educational instruction for college students and for regional teachers and administrators. She has served as a reviewer of state grant applications for technology in education. She founded COMBRIDGE INC., a non-profit, educational corporation designed to serve the region, especially disadvantaged populations, through grant-writing and educational research, program development, and delivery.
In the past decade Dr. Howard has been involved in scientific, educational research. During this time, she has been conducting quantitative and qualitative research to study the relationship of role models to locus of control, a strong predictor of achievement motivation in college students. She has particularly concentrated the focus of her research on marginalized and disadvantaged populations such as females, members of minority groups, and the physically challenged. She has contributed to scientific research the verification (by strong statistical results) that locus of control is a changeable variable and that there is a strong relationship between observation of role models and development of internal locus of control.
Dr. Howard is committed to role-modeling research, communication, and performance skills for her students and for the general public. She has been a contributor to BellNET. She regularly speaks or performs for civic, educational, and performing arts organizations. In 1989 the Sears Roebuck Foundation honored her for Teaching Excellence and Campus Leadership for her work at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. She was UMHB's 1999 nominee for the Piper Professor award for teaching excellence and professionalism. In 1998 she was invited to New York City to NYU to begin serving on the steering committee for Performance Studies International. She is actively involved on national and international levels in fields of communication and performance studies. She regularly presents her work at national and international conferences. (See presentations.)
Professor Howard is a regional, national, and international
on-site and distance public speaker, performer, presenter, consultant, coach, and
professor. She has served on boards of directors and steering committees for
regional performing arts and cultural organizations, such as the Evergreen Performers of
Tacoma, WA; the CAC Chorale and Cultural Activities
Center of Temple, TX; Tablerock Festivals of Salado, TX; and
Texas Nafas of Austin, TX.
She has served at leadership levels on steering committees, boards of directors, and adivsory boards for international organizations such as the following:
PSi (Performance Studies International, Founding Member, Presenter, Steering/Sub-Committees)
NAAAS (National Association of African American Studies and Affiliates - National Association of Hispanic and Latino Studies, National Association of Native American Studies, and the International Association of Asian Studies; International Board of Advisors, Presenter, Writer)
WAOE (World Association of Online Education; Officer Online Education Curriculum Committee, Online Writer, International Book Reviewer, Online Graduate Ed. Mentor)