Karen Libman receives national award

Karen Libman, associate professor in the School of Communications at Grand Valley State University, was honored July 26 with the 2008 Lin Wright Special Recognition Award from the American Alliance for Theatre and Education at the annual conference in Atlanta, Ga.

AATE is the preeminent national organization for theatre educators. The Wright award honors people who have established special programs, developed experimental work, made a distinctive educational contribution or provided meritorious service furthering theatre and drama for young people.

Libman was honored for her work at Grand Valley in developing and implementing Bard to Go, the highly successful touring and outreach arm of the Grand Valley Shakespeare Festival. Now in its seventh year, the performance group recently returned from a 10-day tour to China. Each October BTG tours a number of Michigan secondary schools, and has played to more than 8,000 students.