Nicole Hodges Persley

Experienced higher education professional specializing in academic administration and program development. Successfully led strategic initiatives and policy creation, resulting in institutional advancement. Notable achievements include improved academic standards, increased enrollment, and faculty development. Expertise in fostering collaboration and driving innovative strategies for educational success.

Vice Provost of Community Impact, University of Kansas, 2024-08-01

• Vice Provost of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging, University of Kansas, 2022-11-01, 2024-08-01
• Interim Vice Provost of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging, University of Kansas, 2021-12-01, 2022-11-01
• Director of Museum Studies, 2021-07-01, 2022-03-01
• Associate Professor, Theatre Conservatory, University of Missouri, Kansas City, 2020-12-01, 2021-05-01
• Associate Dean of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, University of Kansas, 2018-01-01, 2020-12-31
• Chair, Department of Theatre & Dance, University of Kansas, 2017-01-01, 2018-12-31
• Acting Chair, Department of Theatre, University of Kansas, 2016-01-01, 2017-12-31
• Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Theatre, 2017-01-01, 2019-12-31
• Director, KU Interactive Theatre Troupe, 2016-01-01, 2017-12-31

Professor, American Studies, African and African American Studies, Theatre & Dance, tenured

• Associate Professor, University of Kansas, 2016-01-01, 2020-12-31
• Associate Professor, University of Missouri, Kansas City, Theatre Conservatory, 2020-01-01, 2021-05-01
• Visiting Professor, Universität of Regensburg, American Studies, 2017-06-01
• Assistant Professor, University of Kansas, 2009-01-01, 2016-12-31

I am an artist-scholar who specializes in transnational popular performance scholarship with a creative focus on Hip-Hop music and culture, African American culture, acting and directing. My scholarship is dedicated to promoting intersectional engagements with social justice, cultural belonging, and performance equity for global majority artists., http://www.hodgespersley.com/, https://kansas.academia.edu/NicoleHodgesPersley, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1502330/, www.epiphanyshort.com

 Director 

18 by Nicole Hodges Persley, short film in pre-production, 2025-08-01, 

Queen Bee: African American Women Stitching Freedom, short form documentary, 2026-03-01, 

Epiphany Short Film, Lewis J. Morrow, Nicole Hodges Persley, 2021-11-01, Denton Film Festival, Tallgrass Film Festival, Belgium International Film festival, Race Fragments and Chards, Nicole Hodges Persley, Remezcla Collective, U.S. Department of Education, One Beat Foundation, 2014-09-01, 2015-12-31, Family Sideshow, Brysen Boyd, Just Off-Broadway Theater, Kansas City, 2025-05-01, Anno Domini, Peter Ukpokodu, Just Off-Broadway Theater, Kansas City, 2024-05-01, Mother/son, Lewis Morris, KC Melting Pot Theater, 2022-09-01, Secrets & Lies, Nicole Hodges Persley, an adaptation of Molière’s Sgnarelle, Just Off-Broadway Theatre, Kansas City, 2022-06-01, Jump, Charley Evon Simpson, University of Missouri, Kansas City Rep, 2022-02-01, Baybra’s Tulips, Lewis Morrow, KC Melting Pot Theatre, 2021-09-01, Ville, Lewis J. Morrow, Off-Broadway at the Billie Holiday Theatre, 2020-10-01, Supa Blackman, LeVan Hawkins, New York Theatre Workshop, 2020-08-01, Baybra’s Tulips, Lewis J Morrow, KC Melting Pot Theatre Company, Just Off-Broadway Theater, Kansas City, 2020-03-01, 2020-05-31, A Raisin in the Sun- 60th Anniversary Production, Lorraine Hansberry, KC Melting Pot Theatre Company, Just Off-Broadway Theater, Kansas City, 2019-01-01, 2019-02-28, On Shoulders Now, Harvey Williams, KC Melting Pot Theatre Company, 2018-11-01, Ain't No Such Thing as Midnight Black, Lewis Morrow, Just Off-Broadway Theater, Kansas City, Missouri, 2018-04-01, 2018-06-09, Funnyhouse of a Negro, Adrienne Kennedy, Just Off-Broadway Theater, Kansas City, 2018-04-01, 2018-05-31, Sunset Baby, Dominique Morriseau, KC Melting Pot Theatre, Just Off-Broadway Theatre, Kansas City, 2017-09-01, 2017-11-10, Dutchman, Leroi Jones (Amiri Baraka), KC Melting Pot Theatre, Just Off-Broadway Theatre, Kansas City, MO, 2017-01-09, 2017-03-17, Rachel, Angelina W. Grimke, KC Melting Pot Theatre, Just Off-Broadway Theatre, Kansas City, MO, 2016-11-10, 2016-11-20, A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry, KU Theatre, Crafton-Preyer Theatre, Lawrence, KS, 2014-11-08, 2015-03-08, Welcome to Arroyo’s, Kristoffer Diaz, University of Kansas Department of Theatre, Inge Theatre, Lawrence, KS, 2016-03-01, 2016-05-31, A Soft Escape, S. Shepard-Massatt, KC Melting Pot Theatre Company, Just Off-Broadway Theatre, Kansas City, MO, 2016-07-15, 2016-09-10, Artistic Director, KC Melting Pot Theatre Company, Kansas City, 2018-01-01, Present, Associate Artistic Director, KC Melting Pot Theatre Company, Just Off-Broadway Theater, Kansas City, Missouri, 2015-08-01, 2018-08-01

• Transitions in Leadership with Nicole Hodges Persley, Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE), 2024-11-01
• Authors Panel on Hip-Hop in Musical Theatre, American Society for Theatre Research (ASTR), 2024-01-01
• Love, Actually: Using AUMI to Transgress Ableist Directing Habits, American Studies Association (ASA), 2023-11-01
• Re-shaping Theatre through Black Mothers' Lived Experiences, American Society for Theatre Research (ASTR), 2023-01-01
• All Conference Plenary- Director, Surviving the
• Hitshow by Dorinne Kondo, American Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE), 2022-07-01
• Reshaping Theater Through Black Mothers’ Lived Experiences, American Society of Theater Research (ASTR), 2022-04-01
• Beyond Vietnam- A Time to Break Silence- UMKC- KU MLK Celebration Talk, 2022-02-01
• Call in the White Hats: Trouble Shooting Difficult Dialogues in Academic Theater, College of Wooster, 2022-02-04
• Limitless Fun: Cultivating World Changing Creativity, Key note Talk University of Iowa, 2021-09-30
• Stormy Weather: Inclusive Environmental Justice Theatre and the Climate of Anti-Blackness, American Studies Association, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2021-11-01
• RE: Inventing Equitable Theatre, Association for Theatre in Higher Education, 2021-08-01
• Thriving not Surviving- BIPOC Affinity Roundtable, Association for Theatre in Higher Education, Detroit Michigan, 2020-08-01
• Changing Direction: Developing Feminist Leadership in the Rehearsal Room, Association for Theatre in Higher Education, Orlando, Florida, 2019-08-01
• Changing Scenes through Actor Training: Rethinking the Methods of Connecting Black Character Work and European Acting Techniques, Association for Theatre in Higher Education, Orlando, Florida, 2019-08-01
• All-Conference Plenary III: Revolutions in Pedagogy and Practice—DEI, Association for Theatre in Higher Education, Boston, Massachusetts, 2018-08-01
• Recognition and Disavowal: Black female labor and performance in theatre, film, and television, American Theatre in Higher Education Conference, Chicago, Illinois, 2017-08-12
• The CRAFT at Work: Insights and Exercises from Black American Acting and Directing Traditions, American Theatre in Higher Education Conference, Chicago, Illinois, 2016-08-12
• The Hustle and Flow of Blackness: Transnational, Global, and Diasporic Performances of Blackness, American Theatre in Higher Education Conference, Chicago, Illinois, 2016-08-14
• This is How We Do it: Remembering Black Theatre in U.S., Canada and Global Contexts, BTA panel, American Theatre in Higher Education Conference, Montreal, Canada, 2015-07-30, 2015-08-02
• Performing Transnationalism, Interdisciplinary Crossroads: Performance Studies in Transnational American Studies Conference, Regensburg, Germany, 2015-07-23
• Resisting Perpetual (Re-)Productions of Misery? Transnational Multimedia Life Writing, American Studies Association Conference, Toronto, Canada, 2015-11-01
• Visual Translation: Crafting the Sonic, Signifying, and Visceral Imaginary in Graphic Novels, Blokhedz: Music, Magic & Mayhem, Harvard University, 2015-04-06, 2015-04-07

The Message: Improvising Hip-hop as Critical Pedagogy in 21st Century Classrooms, Byron T. Shutz Teaching Award, The Commons, 2015-11-18, https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-433894469.html

Hip-hop and Shakespeare, Central Library Kansas City, http://www.kclibrary.org/event/shakespeare-and-hip-hop-nicole-hodges-persley.html

Mellon Foundation Black Seed Grant, Nicole Hodges Persley, KC Melting Pot Theatre, $30,000, 2022-01-01, NEA Grant, Nicole Hodges Persley, S. Tucker, K. Haaheim, M. Hefner Hayes, $35,000, 2016-01-01, Not Tragic; Fredi Washington and the Improvisation of a Radical Black Performance Tradition, ACLS Ryskamp Foundation, 2016-09-24, Sampling and Remixing Blackness in Hip-hop Theater and Performance, Ford Foundation, 2013-11-01, Sampling and Remixing Blackness in Hip-hop Theatre and Performance, American Philosophical Society, 2011-01-01, Not Tragic: Fredi Washington and The Improvisation of a Radical Black Performance Tradition, $9,648, University of Kansas, 2016-01-01, Collaborative Seed Grant, S. Tucker, $10,000, 2016-01-01, Office of International Programs, $3,000, 2016-01-01, Kimbell Grant, $1,200, 2014-05-01, Present, CLAS Travel Award, $700, 2014-05-01, Present, Not Tragic: Fredi Washington and the Improvisation of a Radical Black Performance Tradition, $3,000, 2016-04-01, 2016-08-31

Provost’s Academic Analytics Committee, Invited, 2021-01-01, Campus Wide Diversity Training Video Planning Committee, 2014-12-20, 2015-05-20, Vice Provost of Diversity and Equity- College Committee on Diversity, 2014-09-01, 2015-09-01, Dean for the KU Libraries Search Committee, 2015-05-01, 2015-11-01, Senior Administrative Fellow, 2016-01-01, Dean’s Office DEI Diversity Cabinet, 2021-08-01, 2022-08-01, Associate Dean, developed all community and campus outreach programs in CLAS for DEI, 2017-01-01, 2019-12-31, KU Honors- Admissions Committee, 2021-08-01, 2022-08-01, Chair, Honors Director Search Committee, 2018-03-01, 2018-05-31, Dean's Committee to address campus climate survey concerns, 2015-12-01, 2016-05-31, University Honors Program Fellow, 2016-08-01, 2019-12-31, Ambassador for Service Learning, 2015-12-01, 2017-08-31, Committee on Undergraduate Advising (CUSA), 2013-08-01, 2015-08-01, Promotion and Tenure Committee- African and African American Studies, James Yéku, 2021-01-01, Present, Promotion and Tenure Committee- African and African American Studies, Dorothy Hines, 2021-01-01, Graduate Studies Committee African and African American Studies, 2020-01-01, 2022-12-31, Undergraduate Studies Committee (American Studies and African and African American Studies), 2020-01-01, 2022-12-31, Graduate Studies Committee- American Studies, 2020-01-01

• French, Fluent
• German, Conversational
• Spanish, Conversational
• Italian, Travel proficiency

Not Tragic: Fredi Washington and the Improvisation of a Radical Black Performance Tradition, under review, Yale University Press, 2026-09-01, Hip-Hop in Musical Theatre, Bloomsbury/Methuen, 2023-07-01, Sampling and Remixing Hip-hop in Contemporary Theater and Performance, The University of Michigan Press, 2022-10-01, Breaking it Down: Audition Techniques For Actors of the Global Majority, Nicole Hodges Persley, M. Ndounou, Applause Books/Roman & Littlefield, 2021-07-01, Black Matters: Lewis Morrow Plays Baybra’s Tulips, Begetters; Mother/son, Nicole Hodges Persley, Methuen Drama /Bloomsbury, 2022-07-01, Diva: Hip-Hop, Feminism and Fierceness from Pop to Hip-Hop, Nicole Hodges Persley, Benjamin Halligan, Shara Rambarran, Bloomsbury, 2023-10-01, Special Issue “Milestones in Black Theatre”, Nicole Hodges Persley, Heather Nathans, Journal of American Drama and Theater, 33, 2, 2021-08-01, Talking About a Revolutionary Praxis: A Conversation with Black Women Artist-Scholars in the Wake of COVID-19 and Black Lives Matter, Journal of American Drama and Theater, 33, 2, 2021-08-01, Love, Actually: Overcoming Ableist Directing Techniques Using AUMI, The AUMI Editorial Collective, Improvising Across Abilities: Pauline Oliveros and the Adaptive Use Musical Instrument, University of Michigan, 2024-01-01, Simultaneously Black: Drake, Nikki Minaj, and Idris Elba Performing the Borders of Black Popular Culture, Diva: Hip-Hop, Feminism and Fierceness from Pop to Hip-Hop, 2023-10-01, Oh, My Dear! What’s Going On?: Staging Angelina Weld Grimke’s Rachel in the Wake of Black Lives Matter, The Routledge Companion of African American Theatre and Performance, Kathy Perkins, Sandra Richards, Renée Alexander Craft, Thomas DeFrantz, Routledge, 2019-01-01, Rising to the Occasion: The 2018 International Black Theatre Summit, American Theatre Magazine, 2018-12-01, Hip-hop Theater and Performance, The Cambridge Companion to Hip-hop, Cambridge University Press, 2015-01-01, Fusion: Towards a Transnational Hip-hop Practice, Reading Contemporary Performance: Theatricality Across Genres, M. Cheng, G. Cody, Routledge, 2015-01-01, Available upon request, https://kansas.academia.edu/NicoleHodgesPersley, B(l)ack Futures: Flat Time in Black Performance, Nicole Hodges Persley, B. Kelly, under review, 2024-06-01, De Gruyter Open Cultural Studies Book Chapters