Faculty Mentor of the Week Susie Thiel College of Fine Arts, Dance
Susie Thiel is a multi-media artist, choreographer, performer and educator. She is the Director of the Dance Program and Assistant Professor of Theatre at the University of Kentucky. Over the past year, Ms. Thiel has mentored 10 undergraduate students and explained, "I work hard to teach my students the importance of dance research and practice as research. Most students do not realize the importance of dance scholarship or that dance performance and choreography is research. I help my students expand on their artistry to include a variety of research methodologies and methods, as well as gain new perspectives that can be interwoven into choreographic endeavors."
When looking for mentees, Susie looks for students with questions, someone that wants to employ collaborative and interdisciplinary approaches. Ms. Thiel told us about one of her former undergraduate research students who was a dance minor and also in her third year of medical school at UK. This student's research was based on biological science and dance and culminated into the resulting work, A Production on the Production of Cortisol: Glucocorticoids Made Personal that explored how stress impacted a person physically, mentally, and physiologically.
Susie believes "it is crucial for students to begin to conduct research at the undergraduate level as they are the future dance makers and scholars. Student research at the University of Kentucky provides the student with a foundation to conduct research in their fields. Thank you Susie Thiel for your dedication and support of undergraduate research at UK.