Biography
Dr. Sara K. Schneider completed
her undergraduate education at Yale and trained at New York University
in Performance Studies, the nexus of cross-cultural studies and arts
theories and practices. As artist, social scientist, and author of Vital Mummies: Performance Design for the
Show-Window Mannequin, Concert Song as Seen: Kinesthetic Aspects of
Musical Interpretation, and Art
of Darkness: Ingenious Performances by Undercover Operators, Con Men,
and Others, Schneider has written extensively on the
meaning of the body in expressive and material culture. As an
entrepreneur, she founded and served as artistic director of the New
York movement-theatre company Chaparral and as principal of Sara K.
Schneider, Ph.D. & Associates, a organizational learning and
ethnographic consultancy. Her creative vision has been realized not
only in her writing and in the companies she has founded, but also in
original works for the stage: In
Peerage Out; Reprehensible Shoes; or, Poetry/(Because Names Die); and
Color Story, sponsored by
Pantone, Inc. She is experienced at managing boards, budgets, and
marketing, and skilled in building support from government, foundation,
and corporations.
Assistant
Professor of
Interdisciplinary Studies in the Department of Integrated
Studies in Teaching, Technology, and Inquiry in the National College of
Education at National-Louis University in Chicago, Schneider has also
taught and consulted at the forefront of learning innovation projects
at the University of Washington and Andersen Consulting, among others.
While at then-Andersen Consulting (now called Accenture), Schneider
consulted to project teams on the development of story, script, and
character ideas for multimedia training products for line consultants.
In her own practice, sample consulting projects have included a U. S.
feasibility study for a Canadian mannequin manufacturer; a program
evaluation for the pilot of a national arts organization-urban school
system partnership (Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Hubbard
Street Dance Company, and Chicago Public Schools); meeting designs for
deep engagement and widest participation, using her model of the “arc
of experience” of participants; a pharmaceutical-industry offerings
evaluation for a major international consulting firm; and a
scenario-planning project for a foundation, for which she
co-facilitated the philanthropy’s research process and its stakeholder
dialogues about the impact globalization would have for its programs
and strategy. From these facilitated dialogues, she authored narrative
scenarios about the “future of identity, community, and belonging” in
America, which helped the philanthropy re-define its strategy and
program offerings for unaffiliated young adults in its identity group.
As a result of this project, she was recognized for achievements in
branding and invited to serve on a public panel dealing with
challenging branding issues.
Schneider
has conducted plenary
workshops at conferences of the National Council of Teachers of
English’s Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning, and has
conducted workshops on comparative somatic spiritual
practices at Esalen Institute. She has worked on kinesthetic methods in
education with teachers in DuPage and Cook Counties, and is preparing
publications based on her action research on teacher professional
development in kinesthetic methods with Oak Park teachers. She has
traveled and conducted field research in Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia,
with the Tibetan exile community in northern India, and with
practitioners of kalarippayattu, an indigenous martial art in South
India. She practices and teaches yoga in Chicago, and is active in the
world dance and music communities.