• MFA, Theatre, Florida Atlantic University
  

MARIA S. HORNE is an internationally recognized award-winning master teacher, actor, director, producer, performing arts judge, and scholar. Since 1994, Horne is a professor in the Department of Theatre & Dance and the Founding Director of IACE International Artistic & Cultural Exchange at UB.

Among many awards, Horne is a two-time recipient of the highest honors conferred by The State University of New York to acknowledge system-wide recognition for consistently superior professional achievement:

• SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching
• SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Internationalization

Horne has also been distinguished with:

• The Milton Plesur Excellence in Teaching Award
• UB Recognition for The Positive Influence on Students
• 2011 Outstanding Contribution to International Education
• 2012 Meyerson Distinguished Teaching Mentoring Award
• 2014 Internationalization Fund Award
• 2016, 2014, 2012, 2007 Salute to UB Authors
• Women’s Work, Tribute to the Women Who Make UB Work, as one of the eighty women who have made a significant contribution to UB since its creation in 1876

Internationally, Horne has been honored with the ASSITEJ Argentina Award granted by UNESCO’s International Association of Theatre for Children & Young People, the Danza Diez Award from the Ministry of State for Culture of Venezuela, the Distinguished International Career Award from the Universidad de Costa Rica, and Costa Rica’s CCCN Promising Artists of the 21^st Century Award—for her work as Research Director of IACE Creative Research Lab.

Horne earned her M.F.A. in Theatre Directing from Florida Atlantic University, studying with Zoe Caldwell and Robert Whitehead. Horne trained in Method Acting for five years at The Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute New York, with Lee Strasberg, Anna Strasberg, Charlie Lawton, Elaine Aiken, and others.

Horne’s main areas of research are Methodology and Pedagogy of Acting, focusing on their intersection with Neuroscience and Cognition. In addition, she specializes in international university theatre. She has recurrently presented her work—through conferences, lectures, papers, workshops, master classes—at major universities and organizations in 27 countries. She has participated in 100+ international meetings and performing arts festivals. Since 2000, the United States Department of State has appointed her American Cultural Specialist to Estonia, Culture Connect Envoy to Paraguay, and U.S. Speaker and Specialist to Costa Rica. Horne continues her creative work as director in the US and abroad.

Horne’s articles have been published in several languages by refereed and leading journals in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the United States. Ten of her dramatic translations and adaptations have been professionally produced. Horne has co-edited eight academic trilingual volumes: Studying the Theatre; Theatre without Frontiers; To Teach/To Study Theatre at the University: What for?; Identity and Its Languages, Paradigms and Paradoxes; Actors in University Theatre; Theatre Pedagogy; Tradition, Research, and Experimentation in University Theatre; and University Theatre and Repertoires. She is currently co-editing an upcoming book on Theatre Research at the Universities.

Internationally, Horne is Vice-President of the International University Theatre Association AITU-IUTA; member of ITI-UNESCO Theatre Training & Education FTTE; and consultant for international organizations. She has served on the Scientific Board of AITU’s World Congresses: Poland 2001, Greece 2003, Italy 2006, Mexico 2008, United Kingdom 2010, Belarus 2012, Belgium 2014, Colombia 2016, and upcoming Russia 2018. Horne is co-editor for AITU Press and Edizioni Nuove Catarsi, holds a seat in the scientific editorial board of Italy’s refereed theatre journal Teatri delle Diversità, and is a contributing editor for the Folger Shakespeare Library’s Folgerpedia.

In 1994, Horne became the Founding Director of the International Artistic & Cultural Exchange Program (IACE) with the objective to provide students, faculty and alumni with unique learning and cross-cultural opportunities. IACE fosters creative research, peace building, and a better understanding of artistic and cultural heritages by bringing artists of multicultural background from around the world to the university and community. In a two-way approach, IACE replicates the experience for UB artists by creating and sponsoring opportunities abroad, which allow them to mirror the artistic and cultural exchange. IACE presents thought-provoking, critical, innovative and interactive events, and extends dialogue through a variety of initiatives: IACE International Performing Arts Series, IACE International Lectures Series, IACE International Visiting Scholars Program, IACE Academic Overseas Program, IACE Alumni Program, IACE Community Outreach, IACE New Initiatives Program, and IACE Creative Research Lab, of which Horne is Research Director.

Horne has created four successful UB study abroad programs: Theatre, Cultures & Civilizations in Romania, Shanghai Theatre Academy in China, Culture & Performance Appreciation in London, United Kingdom, and upcoming in 2018, Literary Ireland: The Influence of Landscapes and Cities in Ireland.

Horne is the Director of IACE Creative Research Lab. She engages students in her own interdisciplinary scholarship, making them part of the hands-on and intellectual process of inquiry and discovery. Since 1994, she has sponsored over 100 students and continues to provide supervised research opportunities that through her mentoring have resulted in her students creating new work, publishing, presenting research at international conferences and performing at international festivals. Both her IACE Creative Research Lab and her alumni have earned distinctions. A large number of her students go on to professional artistic careers, earn terminal degrees, graduate assistantships, Fulbright fellowships, and placement in academic institutions. Long after graduation, her students continue their collaboration both here and abroad, and they consistently credit Horne as a main influence in their careers, research, and lives.