Almeta Whitis: SMUDGE STICK:The pungent Aroma of TRUTH

Almeta Whitis is a storyteller, actress, poet, writer and teaching artist who has taught elementary, middle and high school in NYS and Arizona. A former assistant professor of Theater at SUNY Brockport, in 1997, she received their “Distinguished Scholar Public Service Award”. In 1995, Phi Delta Kappa awarded her “Lay Educator of the Year” by unanimous decision. As Chair of ALLOFUS Art Workshop’s Dance Department, a MAG and UR outreach program, she expanded a Saturday class of eight children to a year-round program serving over 450 children and adults. In 2000, National Endowment for the Arts and Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation awarded her “Most Skilled and Experienced Community Artist”-Artists and Communities: America Creates for the Millennium. In 1993, Governor Mario Cuomo awarded her the “Decade of the Child Award” for “her valuable, sensitive work with the children and families of New York State”.