Patti P. Gillespie slides collection

Dr. Patti Gillespie (b. circa 1938) attended the University of Kentucky earning a bachelor's degree in bacteriology, with honors, in 1958. She went on to earn a masters degree in special education from Western Kentucky University from 1961 to 1964. Her doctoral studies were completed at Indiana University from 1966 to 1970. She began her teaching career at the University of Iowa where she served as Associate Chair and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Speech and Dramatic Art from 1972 to 1974.

At the University of South Carolina, from 1974 to 1979, she transitioned from associate to full professor as well as Director of Graduate Studies and Head of the Department of Theatre and Speech. Throughout her career, Dr. Gillespie was a visiting professor and scholar at various institutions such as Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio, The University of Iowa, Peace College in Roanoke, Virginia, and Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. In 1980, she co-authored The Enjoyment of Theatre, a textbook for theatre and drama, which entered its eighth printing in 2010. She also authored numerous articles and reviews on the history of theatre, dramatic theory, speech, communication, feminism, education, and careers in the arts.

In 1982, Dr. Gillespie came to the University of Maryland, College Park where she was a longtime professor of theatre and drama until her retirement in 1999. From 1982 to 1989 she also chaired the Department of Communication. In 1992, during her tenure at UMD, she received a Fulbright Scholarship to teach in the English Department at the University of Botswana.