Seton Hill Theatre and Dance program costume director Susan O’Neill, a 1979 alumna of Seton Hill, has been named a Pennsylvania Presidential Appointee to the Board of the Pennsylvania Art Education Association. Susan will represent Region 5 on the PAEA Board of Directors for a four year term.

She is also a member of the National Art Education Association Art Education and Technology Committee, Committee on Multiethnic Concerns and NAEA Associate member of The United States Society for Education Through Art.

As a professional costume designer since 1985, Susan designs costumes for theatre, dance and opera as well as being a published children's book illustrator and studio artist. Susan spent 11 years as the resident costume designer/coordinator for The Pittsburgh Opera, and nine years as the resident designer for The Dance Alloy, and her costume designs and builds have also been seen at The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Santa Fe Opera, The Lincoln Center OUT-OF-DOORS Festival as well as toured to three continents and were featured on major network television. 

Susan’s appointment to the board comes as The National Art Education Association recently awarded the Pennsylvania Art Education Association the 2016 Presidential Citation Award. This prestigious award, determined through a peer review of nominations, recognizes a State/Province Association that has made superior achievements contributing to the improvement of art education. 

NAEA is the professional association for art educators. Members include elementary, secondary, middle level and high school art teachers; university and college professors; education directors who oversee education in our nation’s fine art museums, administrators and supervisors who oversee art education in school districts, state departments of education, arts councils; and teaching artists throughout the United States and many foreign countries.