FACULTY - Julie H Bolton
Professor
From her start as a part-time acting teacher at Augsburg College, Julie Bolton has always shared a special connection with her students. Now, 27 years later, Bolton maintains strong relationships with both past and current students. As a theatre arts professor at Augsburg, Bolton’s career has included teaching, learning, and directing a variety of shows. Her education in the fine arts includes a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Minnesota as well as professional acting and work with a variety of area theatres such as the Guthrie Theater, Cricket Theatre, and Minnesota Ensemble Theatre.
Bolton’s part-time position in 1976 eventually led to four years as chair of the Department of Speech/Communication and Theatre Arts. Although faced with the task of hiring four new professors, forming and teaching new classes such as Advanced Acting and Voice and Diction, Bolton believes that one of her more difficult tasks was working to expand the theatre arts program. Though her role as theatre arts program director was hard work, Bolton says it was also very rewarding. The time and effort she contributed to the department helped “put the [theatre] program on the map,” and Bolton expresses her pride in the program’s continued success.
Although she no longer chairs speech/communication and theatre arts, Bolton is still very active in Augsburg’s theatre program through teaching and directing. However, she is also enjoying getting back to her acting roots. Bolton works as a voice-over artist, a books-on-tape performer for the Minneapolis Society for the Blind, and is currently working as a docent for the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.