Chair of University of New Orleans' film, theater department wins teaching award

David Hoover, chair of the University of New Orleans' Department of Film and Theater, recently received the  Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) Prize for teaching innovation.

The annual prize is granted to an individual who has shown that he or she has been able to create a method and environment in which theater students can thrive. The winner is picked from one of the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival's eight geographic regions. Hoover is from Region Six, which includes Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma.

An award-winning director, Hoover is an active member of the Society of American Fight Directors and the Southwest Theatre Association. 

"This award is really a tribute to the hundreds of alumni we have working in the field,"  Hoover said.

The ATHE, a nonprofit organization that was founded in 1986, seeks to support students in theater, as well as the study of theater, in general.