Associate Director and Associate Professor

Taking a geographic approach to this narrative…Judith Reagan was born in Newark, NJ and raised in Cleveland, where she double majored in Drama and English at Notre Dame College of Ohio. In a continental shift, she enjoyed two years with the Peace Corps in the Philippines, working with K-3 teachers on methods of teaching reading in a second language, and with adults learning to speak and write English. Next came an M.A. in Drama from Catholic University in Washington, D.C., following which Jude spent ten years in Manhattan working as an actress. Several theatre jobs offered the opportunity to teach in conjunction with performing, providing a logical, if not predictable, transition to her work at the Teaching Resource Center.

At the TRC Jude engages in individual consultations with faculty on course development and other issues, and organizes or leads workshops on various topics. She is co-facilitator of the Teaching + Technology Initiative (TTI) and liaison to the Teaching + Technology Support Partners (TTSP) program, and oversees the annual Graduate Teaching Assistant Awards.

Jude's research interest is in transplanting effective oral communication techniques developed for and utilized by actors to other populations and professions. She continues to learn how to do this through teaching an annual Oral Interpretation course. She regularly offers workshops on developing vocal and physical flexibility and stamina useful in lecturing, giving conference presentations, and other aspects of academic speaking to UVa faculty and to graduate and undergraduate students. Jude has been a coach and consultant on oral presentation for faculty at Cornell, Georgetown and Tulane, as well as for professional groups including the Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership, the Virginia Municipal League, and others. To return to geography, she has delighted in working with groups as near as Richmond and as far as South Africa.