Catherine Bradley was awarded the H. Noel Fieldhouse Award for Distinguished Teaching!

Catherine Bradley - Head of Wardrobe, costume designer, researcher, and teacher in the Department of English - was awarded the H. Noel Fieldhouse Award for Distinguished Teaching!

On a yearly basis and without a break since 1988, in conjunction with her full-year course Costuming for the Theatre I & II, Catherine and her students have been responsible for the design and creation of the costumes for both the fall and winter shows of the Drama and Theatre Program. In 2010, she added to her yearly teaching portfolio the History of Costume 1850-1976, an innovative and essential course on theatre history. Catherine also regularly supervises Individual Reading Courses, Independent Theatre Projects, and Internships.

Catherine has had an indelible impact on the lives of her students. One of her students was on a fast track to a career in Medicine when she took Costuming for the Theatre as an elective. She has since won numerous awards for her costume design including a Tony. Catherine’s class, she writes, “was the door that opened everything for me.” Another former student writes: “Catherine brings out the passion in us all. I spent as much time as I could in the Costume Shop, too excited about the work to let it be. My class joked that we should make sweaters with personal slogans. Catherine’s would be: “I’m here if you need me.”

35 years; more than 100 productions; over 1000 students; literally hundreds of hand-made costumes; countless promotional displays. And lives changed.