Sobha kavanakudiyil, ed.d.

Dr. Sobha Kavanakudiyil is a theatre practitioner, scholar, and higher education leader whose work sits at the intersection of creative practice and teacher preparation.

As Director of the Graduate Program in Educational Theatre at The City College of New York, she works alongside faculty and graduate students in a public urban institution grounded in equity and access. She leads curriculum development and mentorship that integrates creative practice with critical inquiry, preparing theatre educators to engage questions of identity, representation, and systemic power within educational and cultural institutions.

Sobha earned her Ed.D. in Higher Education from Fairleigh Dickinson University in 2026. Her dissertation, (Re)Imagine Theatre Education Teacher Preparation in Higher Education, integrates qualitative research, ethnodrama, and the development of the VOICE Reflective Framework, a strategic tool that supports programs in advancing equity across curriculum, mentorship, recruitment, and institutional culture.

Her work centers on:

• Equity-centered teacher preparation
• Graduate program leadership
• Theatre education and curriculum design
• Creative practice as scholarship
• Identity in the performing arts
  

• Innovative
• Relationship Building
• Leadership
• Visionary
• Strategic Planning
• Mentorship
• Manager
• Commitment to Quality
• Collaborative

As the daughter of immigrants, Sobha’s work is shaped by questions of belonging, access, and representation. She is committed to preparing educators who center identity as foundational to both pedagogical and artistic practice and to advancing theatre education as a site of equity-driven institutional transformation. Her work contributes to national conversations on equity, creative practice, and teacher preparation in higher education.