Katy’s Work in Higher Education

Katy is an Assistant Professor of Theatre at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls. She is the primary acting instructor and intimacy director for the UNI Department of Theatre, and she directs and coaches regularly in the mainstage season. She is also the co-chair of the Performance Committee, Vice Chair for the College of Humanities, Arts, and Sciences Faculty Senate, and an active member of the Anti-Discrimination Committee.

Katy has a rich history of being connected to TheatreUNI. Her parents (Tim Slaven and Colette Ceilley-Slaven) met in the Strayer-Woof Theatre in the ’80s, and Katy saw her first theatrical production (Treasure Island, directed by Gretta Berghammer) at UNI at the age of two while her dad was attending grad school. She graduated with a BA in Theatre: Performance-Acting from UNI in 2010, returned to teach as an adjunct instructor in the theatre department from Spring 2017-Fall 2022, and has been on the tenure-track since January 2023. She now lives on the same street where her mom grew up, and can think of nowhere she would rather be. Go Cats!

Katy has also taught, directed, and coached at Florida Atlantic University, Coe College, Cornell College, Hawkeye College, and the University of Iowa, and continues to collaborate with her colleagues in theatre departments across Iowa and the US.