Kristen Shahverdian is the program director of campus free speech at PEN America, developing campus engagements and public events related to free expression and education. Before joining PEN America, she was a senior lecturer at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and previously was an adjunct professor at Rowan University and Temple University. She served as a project manager for the Philadelphia Folklore Project, and facilitated workshops on how to teach representations of violence in art at Moore College of Art & Design, Common Field, the College Art Association and Dance Studies Association. She is also a writer and editor at the online dance journal thINKingDANCE. She received her BA in history and dance from Hamilton College, her MFA in dance from Temple University, and her MA in socially engaged art from Moore College of Art & Design.
Publications
Campuses for All: How Free Speech Education Can Protect and Enrich Colleges and Universities
Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, November 2023
How campuses can protect free speech and student safety amid the Israel-Hamas war
Higher Ed Dive, November 2023