Diane Merchant, PhD

Biography

Diane Merchant serves as professor of theatre. She earned a B.A. in speech and secondary education at Cedarville College (1978) and taught high school English, theatre, and speech in Elyria, Ohio for eight years. She conducted postgraduate work in theatre (directing, playwriting, and dramaturgy) at Kent State University, and completed her Ph.D. in Theatre Education at The Ohio State University (1996). She teaches Theatre History, Dramaturgy, Directing, Educational Theatre, Theatre of Social Change, Arts Administration, and the Professional Preparation Seminar for theatre majors. Dr. Merchant is a member of the professional labor union, the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, and maintains active memberships in the Association of Theatre in Higher Education, Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas, and the American Alliance of Theatre in Education. She and her husband, Mahlon, have one son. Dr. Merchant has been at Cedarville since 1986, coming first as an adjunct faculty member and assuming a full-time position at the University in 1989.