Marsha L. Heck came to IU South Bend in 1997 after teaching at liberal arts colleges, and brings those experiences with interdisciplinary learning communities to her work here. With a BA in Art and Outdoor Education, an MS.Ed. in Community Counseling, and an Ed.D. in Curriculum and Instruction: Cultural Studies, she was also a middle grades and secondary teacher, art therapist, and a substance abuse prevention and treatment professional. Marsha is committed to the transformation of individuals and communities through educational experiences that empower full self-expression. Her scholarly and creative projects address cultural inquiry and exploration through the arts and the wholeness of human experience. Representative titles of her publications and presentations include:
Imaginative inquiry and conceptual creativity: transcending boundaries in arts and humanities inquiry and production; Dispositions as habits of body, mind, and spirit: Quaker and Native American perspectives; Factors of creative conflict: caring relationships with diverse others through arts-based experiences; Using Paula Underwood’s Native American learning stories in the classroom; Museums as empowering learning laboratories: cultural capital, cultural understanding, critical thinking, and community; Educators as human rights leaders: a paradigm of praxis; Exploring Cognitive Dissonance and the Difference Gap in Multicultural Inquiry and Instruction; Interdisciplinary Inquiry Through the Arts: Educational and Social Transformation; Lesson Starters: Museum-Based, Interdisciplinary, Arts-Infused Curriculum