Ann Phelps
Ann Phelps is the Director of Programming for Leadership and Character at Wake Forest University. She earned a B.A. from Hastings College and an M.A.R. from Yale University where she studied the intersection of religion, the arts, and modern culture at the Institute of Sacred Music. In her former roles as Director of the 1 Campus 1 Community Office of Community Engagement and Interim Director of Religious Life at Millsaps College, she taught courses on community engagement and vocational discernment. Most of her research has been conducted outside of the library, where she has worked as a freelance musician and teacher with colleges, universities, and religious communities to envision how corporate rituals and collective creativity can empower us to be more ethical actors in our changing world. She has recorded vocals for a number of composers and ensembles, most frequently with her communal song and jazz band, the Theodicy Jazz Collective, that has provided leadership and reflection in communities such as Yale, Cambridge, and Oxford Universities and Canterbury, St. John the Divine, and Washington National Cathedrals. Her most recent research explores how rehearsal and performance of particular virtues (and vices) in theatre might have an impact on character even after the curtain closes (Educational Theory, forthcoming). Her publications extend beyond the academic realm to award-winning visual art and the self-illustrated poem The Tower and the Well, written almost as much for children as for the adults who might read it to them.
