Nicole Callahan | Board Vice President

A Santa Barbara native, and a former dancer who still takes class (standing in the back!!!), Nicole is overjoyed to be part of the next 30 wonderful years of State Street Ballet. Nicole holds her Ph.D. in English Education from Columbia University. Her research and publication focuses on the history of the essay, on pedagogies and methodologies of “writing to learn” and “writing to think,” and on the history and future of education in the “Liberal Arts," particularly in broadening access to high quality education in the humanities. She also helped found, administer, and teach a Columbia course called Humanities Texts Critical Skills, as part of the Justice-in-Education Initiative, combining undergraduates from Columbia with the Justice Scholars, men and women who have recently come home from prison. Her academic work can be found in Public Books and Europe Now. In addition to her work on the board of the ballet, Nicole sings with Quire of Voyces, and does educational access and justice work for Santa Barbara’s Mission Scholars