The University of Arkansas at Monticello Homepage

The University of Arkansas at Monticello (UAM) will host Professor Sarah Woods of the Denmark National School of Performing Arts and the University of Cambridge as a Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence during the fall 2023 semester.

As stated on the Fulbright website, “The Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence (S-I-R) Program is a unique Fulbright Scholar Program initiative that is specifically driven by the goals of U.S. institutions of higher education to enhance internationalization efforts on their campuses. Through the S-I-R Program, institutions host a scholar from outside of the United States for a semester or full academic year to teach courses, assist in curriculum development, guest lecture, develop study abroad/exchange partnerships and engage with the campus and the local community.”

“The process for hosting a Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence program is highly competitive,” said Crystal Halley, vice chancellor for Academic Affairs at UAM, “and we are honored to have been selected by Fulbright to have this opportunity to enrich the culture of our campus and community.”

At the Denmark National School for Performing Arts, Professor Woods, who is a playwright, co-leads the Master of Fine Arts program in Performing Arts. Themes of her teaching include the role of story in individuals’ lives and in society, how creativity works, art for social change and the changing role of the artist in a complex world. All her teaching is underpinned by “systems thinking,” a way of finding order in a complex world.

Her theatre work has been produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company, Soho Theatre and the British Broadcasting Company, as well as regional theatres and touring companies. Many of her plays are published by Oberon Books/Bloomsbury Publishing. She is also a librettist for operas.

In addition, Professor Woods has written extensively for radio. Her original play Borderland, which imagines a possible post-Brexit UK, won the 2018 Tinniswood Award for best radio script of 2017.

Her areas of expertise reach far beyond playwriting and writing for radio. She has, for example, designed and created a module in Transforming Food Systems for the Master of Science degree at Lancaster University.

The two classes she will teach during the fall 2023 semester at UAM are ENGL 4683 Seminar in Writing: The Play as System on Tuesdays from 1:40 to 4:10 p.m. and ENGL 4723 Seminar: Systems Thinking on Thursdays from 1:40 to 4:10 p.m.

In The Play as System, students will explore the main building blocks of a play, from character and dialogue to story and structure, will spend time thinking about the ways that theatrical stories work and will put these components and ideas into practice through their own creative writing.  

In Systems Thinking, students will study the work of key systems thinkers—futurists, artists and neuroscientists—to explore what choices people make, how they manage the complex world they live in and what they need to change in order to create the future they want.

Anyone interested in enrolling in one or both of Professor Woods’ classes can contact Dr. Steven Harper, dean of the School of Arts and Humanities, at 870-460-1178.