Dr. Heather Thorp (she, her, hers) is a senior lecturer and Field Director in the Social Work Department in the Beaver College of Health Sciences. Dr. Thorp completed her Doctorate in Educational Leadership with a concentration in Expressive Arts Education, Leadership and Inquiry. Her dissertation was a post qualitative expressive arts based inquiry titled Ongoing Curiosities in Post Formal Education: Making Kin, Becoming Kin, and Becoming Kin(d) with/in a Story Family Sojourn. Her research focuses on the relationship between creativity, sacredness and social and environmental justice in non-traditional educational settings. Dr. Thorp is also a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and a Registered Expressive Arts Therapist. She served on the board of the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association from 2015-2021. She serves on the board of Educating Girls Everywhere, EDGE, a girl's school in rural India. She has collaborated with peers on two book chapters related to arts-based research and practices. In addition to gathering women in creative community, Heather loves living in the mountains, spending time with family (including her soon-to-be wife, Robin, and their grandbaby), exploring various hiking spots, cooking, and traveling.
