Mission

Our Position:
The Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) is a comprehensive non-profit professional membership organization. Founded in 1986, ATHE serves the interests of its diverse individual and organizational members, including college and university theatre departments and administrators, educators, graduate students, and theatre practitioners. The Association’s web site is www.athe.org.

Our Vision:
An advocate for the field of theatre and performance in higher education, ATHE serves as an intellectual and artistic center for producing new knowledge about theatre and performance-related disciplines, cultivating vital alliances with other scholarly and creative disciplines, linking with professional and community-based theatres, and promoting access and equity.

Our Mission:
As a collective of individuals and theatre programs composed of artists, teachers, scholars, faculty and graduate students, our mission is:

• To support and sustain a shaping presence on the expanding field of theatre and performance-related disciplines in higher education and K-12 educators, professional artists, and affiliated organizations.
• To cultivate and disseminate new information, knowledge and critical thinking about theatre through member services, programming, publications, and other media.
• To celebrate and serve the scholarly and creative activities of a diverse membership.
• To generate the development of innovative pedagogies.
• To assert our commitment to empowerment and engagement through:
  • advocacy work
  • professional development
  • diversity
  • publication of journals
  • collaborations with other organizations
  • meetings and conferences
• To promote innovation and excellence in theatre in all its forms through our leadership in the interdisciplinary study of theatre within the academy and the world.

View ATHE’s 2005-2009 Strategic Plan.