Associate Professor Janet McDonald received her PhD from Arizona State University in 1999. She was a high school drama teacher from 1987-1995, and continues to work on theatre/drama projects with young people of all abilities. She is currently the Theatre Discipline Convenor in the School of Creative Arts at USQ. McDonald was Head of the School of Creative Arts (2008-2013) at USQ, and her work in enabling young people in the arts continued through her role as Chair of Youth Arts Queensland (2008-2012), the State’s former peak body for youth arts. She served as the USQ Representative on the Flying Arts Alliance Management Committee (2008-2012), she currently sits on the Friends of Cobb&Co Museum Group. McDonald regularly assists Arts Queensland in assessing a wide variety of grants for use in enhancing the arts and communities of regional Queenslanders. She is co-recipient of an Australian Learning and Teaching Council Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning (2009) and sits on the Board of Fellows of King’s College, UQ St Lucia, Brisbane. She is an ongoing avid and ardent member of the Women of the Pride and the Brisbane Lions (BBFFC) AFL Club.

Fields of Research (FoR)

• Performing Arts and Creative Writing not elsewhere classified ( 190499 )
  
• Performing Arts not elsewhere classified ( 360499 )
  
• Creative And Professional Writing not elsewhere classified ( 360299 )
  
• Performing Arts ( 360400 )
  
• Creative And Professional Writing ( 360200 )
  

Research interests
Gender construction and performance in actor-training
Regional youth and arts sustainability: community cultural development
Wellbeing and resilience through the arts
Landscapes of Practice in arts learning
Reflexive and reflective practice in theatre training

Industry affiliations
Arts Council Toowoomba
Arts Queensland (grant assessor)
Friends of Cobb&Co
Fellow of King's College, St Lucia

USQ Research affiliations

• Institute for Resilient Regions (IRR)
  

Currently teaching courses/programs
THE1000 Introduction to Creative Practice
THE1002 Intro to History and Theory of Drama 2
THE2003 Children's and Young People's Theatre
THE2008 Modern Theatre and Drama
THE8002 The Body: Representation and Imposition
BCA3000 BCA Project A
BCA8000 Aesthetic Dimensions

Teaching experience(Tertiary)
21 Years

Teaching experience(Other)
7 Years

Administrative responsibilities
Theatre Discipline Convenor, School of Creative Arts (2020 - )
Head of School, Creative Arts (2008-2013)
School Discipline Coordinator - Creative Arts (2013 - 2018)
Associate Academic Performance Supervisor (2015-2018)
Chair, Youth Arts Queensland (2008-2012)
Chair, RAYGUN (2013-2016)
President. Arts Council, Toowoomba (2017 - 2020)

Research most recent
Peters, Sarah A. and McDonald, Janet A. (2019) Creating a community of practice in a practice-led PhD (Chapter 12). In: Traversing the doctorate: reflections and strategies from students, supervisors and administrators. Tanya M. Machin, Marc Clara, and Patrick A Danaher, eds. Palgrave Studies in Education Research Methods. Palgrave Macmillan Ltd., Cham, Switzerland, pp. 217-235. ISBN 978-3-030-23730-1.
http://eprints.usq.edu.au/id/eprint/37398

McDonald, Janet and Alderdice, Scott and Cutcliffe, Katrina (2019) The clown and the king: undergraduate actor training and wellbeing. Theatre, Dance and Performance Training, 10 (1). pp. 68-84. ISSN 1944-3927
http://eprints.usq.edu.au/id/eprint/36345

Kerby, Martin and Baguley, Margaret and McDonald, Janet, eds. (2019) The Palgrave handbook of artistic and cultural responses to war since 1914: the British Isles, the United States, and Australasia. Palgrave Macmillan Ltd., Cham, Switzerland. ISBN 978-3-319-96985-5
http://eprints.usq.edu.au/id/eprint/36288

McDonald, Janet Alison; Aprill, Arnold and Mills, Deborah and Kerby, Martin (2017) Wellbeing and arts education: opportunities for increasing advocacy. Australian Art Education, 38 (1). pp. 93-107. ISSN 1032-1942
http://eprints.usq.edu.au/id/eprint/33588

McDonald, Janet Alison (2015) Artist-run initiatives as liminal incubatory arts practice. In: Creative communities: regional inclusion & the arts. Intellect Books, Bristol, UK, pp. 207-218. ISBN 978-1-78320-512-7
http://eprints.usq.edu.au/id/eprint/28591

McDonald, Janet; Mason, Robert, eds. (2015) Creative communities: regional inclusion & the arts. Intellect Books, Bristol, UK. ISBN 978-1-78320-512-7
http://eprints.usq.edu.au/id/eprint/28584

Publications in ePrints

Gildersleeve, Jessica ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7694-5615 and McDonald, JanetORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6006-4941 (2022) Barracuda’s Freak Bodies and Elite Swimming in Australia. Journal of Australian Studies, 46 (1). pp. 98-111. ISSN 1444-3058

Baguley, Margaret ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0098-6378 and Kerby, MartinORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4073-2559 and O'Toole, John and Farrer, Kerryanne and MacDonald, JanetORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6006-4941 (2022) Connecting Art with the Curriculum: Providing Australian Regional, Rural and Remote Teachers with Professional Development through Visual Arts. Australian Art Education, 43 (1). pp. 54-78. ISSN 1032-1942

Palani, Ari and McDonald, JanetORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6006-4941 and Wedmaier, Jeanette (2021) Empire Youth Arts: a 10 year overview. A commissioned report. Project Report. Empire Theatre , Toowoomba, Australia. [Report]

McDonald, Janet ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6006-4941 (2021) 'Mad, Muddy, Mess of Eels': Modern Theatre and Patrick White's Sensuous Dramaturgy. In: The Routledge Companion to Australian Literature. Taylor & Francis (Routledge), New York; London, pp. 75-82. ISBN 978-0-367-64356-0

Burton, David ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2727-0030 and McDonald, JanetORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6006-4941 (2021) Performance 'Training' in the Dirt: Facilitating Belonging in a Regional Community Musical Theatre Event. Theatre, Dance and Performance Training, 12 (3). pp. 425-439. ISSN 1944-3927

View full listing in ePrints

Research supervisor in the area of:

• Performing Arts and Creative Writing not elsewhere classified ( 190499 )
  
• Performing Arts not elsewhere classified ( 360499 )
  
• Creative And Professional Writing not elsewhere classified ( 360299 )
  
• Performing Arts ( 360400 )
  
• Creative And Professional Writing ( 360200 )