Erin Renard has stepped down from directing the theater program at Barton Community College, but said she’ll continue to teach one theater course this fall.
Renard’s contract was renewed in April. However, she said she asked to be removed from the position of program director and moved to the position of a full-time instructor. She will teach speech and English classes for the college’s communication department.
She began teaching at Barton in 2009 and is credited on the college website (www.bartonccc.edu/fineperformingarts/theatre/director) with reigniting the theater department and its two-year Associate Degree curriculum. She taught courses in acting, play production, theater makeup and design, stagecraft, children’s theater and theater appreciation.
She is a professional director who studied at William Patterson University in New Jersey, majoring in theater with a minor in dance. She holds a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science from Fort Hays State University.
Renard said that in addition to teaching full-time, she has enrolled at FHSU and plans to earn a Master of Arts in English. She recently received the Lloyd Oswald Scholarship from the FHSU English department.
She won’t be directing theater productions at BCC in 2016-17. However, she does plan to direct the spring play at Russell High School again.
She’ll also do at least some of her Barton teaching at Russell High School, which will be a shorter commute. Renard said she and her husband live north of Russell and started the Good Karma Micro-Dairy LLC in 2015.