Dr. Esther Beth Sullivan, Humanities Montana board chair
Humanities Montana Welcomes Dr. Esther Beth Sullivan as New Board Chair
Dr. Esther “Beth” Sullivan grew up in Livingston, Great Falls, and Bozeman. She earned her bachelor’s degree at Rocky Mountain College, and then taught middle school language arts in Missoula. She pursued graduate school in theater studies at Washington State University (MA) and University of Washington (Ph.D.). From there, she taught as a faculty member in the theater department at Ohio State University and served in various administrative roles for 16 years.
When she married a fellow Rocky alum who happened to live in Alaska, she moved to Anchorage where she began work as the director for the Rural Alaska Native and Adult Distance Education Program at Alaska Pacific University (APU). Over nearly 14 years at APU, she served as faculty member, program director, department chairperson, and academic dean. At the end of 2018, she and her husband retired and returned to Montana. Across her career from Montana to Ohio and Alaska, she is proud to have developed academic programs that expanded access, particularly for first-generation, rural, and Indigenous students. She is also proud of the work she did to integrate cultural studies across curricular offerings, especially through the arts. She is happy to be back in Montana, living close to Rocky, in the shadows of the Rims, under the brilliant Billings sky — and humbled to be working on the board of Humanities Montana.
Going to school at Rocky Mountain College in the 1970s, I loved every course I took, whether it was geology, social dance, Christian thought, or modern drama — so much so that I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life on a campus, immersed in study, and working with students. I was fortunate to be able to do just that, eventually becoming a professor of theater studies, first at Ohio State University for over 15 years (go Buckeyes!), and then at Alaska Pacific University, until I retired before the pandemic. At these two very different institutions along with a range of administrative positions, I studied and restudied literature, philosophy, history, and awe-inspiring artists — and enjoyed sharing that pursuit with hundreds of students. My students came from all walks of life — rural Ohio towns and Alaska Native villages, veterans and elders, executives and high-school seniors. But across those differences, I could count on a common range of human engagement: an abiding interest in characters caught up in complicated situations (think: Raisin in the Sun), a fascination with others’ motivations and internal thoughts (think: Hamlet), and a passion for following intrigue and tragic plotting forces (think: Jesus Christ Superstar). I was fortunate indeed to spend the arc of my professional life not just in universities but grounded in the humanities.
In my years of service on the HM board, I have been particularly impressed by the Montanans who share their expertise through our Speakers in the Schools and Montana Conversations programs. From these presentations, I’ve learned about Billings architecture, the lives of Calamity Jane and Jeanette Rankin, Salish art and storytelling, cowboy music, historic Chinese communities in Montana, Métis buffalo hunters, railways across the Highline, historical accounts of floods on the Blackfeet Reservation, naming of the constellations, and even Bigfoot!”
