Janet L. Swenson, Sharon L. Swenson named associate chairs
Academic Vice President Alan L. Wilkins has announced the appointment of Rodger D. Sorensen as the new chair of the Department of Theatre and Media Arts at Brigham Young University.
Sorensen replaces Robert Nelson, who has served as department chair for the past six years. Following a stint as director of this spring's Theatre in London Study Abroad Program for the department, Nelson will return to full-time teaching and directing.
New associate chairs in the department are Janet L. Swenson, a professor of theatre and media arts, and Sharon L. Swenson, an assistant professor of theatre media arts.
A former member of the theatre faculty at Ricks College, Sorensen received his bachelor's and master's degrees from BYU in 1972 and 1974 and his doctorate from the University of Texas at Dallas in 1999. He joined the BYU faculty in 1996, where he is an associate professor.
He has been the director of many campus productions, including last season's "Archipelago" and the upcoming presentation of "Papa Married a Mormon," which he is adapting for the stage. At the Tuacahn Festival outside St. George, Utah, he directed last fall's "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" and will direct this fall's "Singin' in the Rain."
He has been artistic director of the Hill Cumorah Pageant in Palmyra, N.Y., since 1997 and has been associated with the pageant as a director or technical director since 1977.
For more information, contact the Department of Theatre and Media Arts, (801) 422-6645.
