About Dr. Hetrick
More Info
Short Biography:
Laura Hetrick received her Ph.D. from The Ohio State University in 2010 and immediately began working at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is an associate professor of art education and also serves as their Graduate Coordinator. Her doctoral scholarship concerned itself with the emergent identity formation of art student teachers: the knowledge and cultural systems through which art teaching identity conceives itself, and the ontological consequences that evolve from those identifications. Hetrick is the co-editor of the journal Visual Arts Research, a publication providing a forum for historical, critical, cultural, psychological, educational, and conceptual research in visual arts and aesthetic education. To date, Hetrick has published one edited book, over 20 peer-reviewed articles and given over 30 conference presentations and invited lectures. She is consistently invited/accepted to present at conferences, workshops and panels in the U.S., and internationally, including Canada, Finland, Jamaica, Jordan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Turkey.
Currently, she is affiliated with the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science & Technology; Beckman’s Owl Patrol Outreach Group; the Autism Self Advocacy Network; Carl R Woese Institute for Genomic Biology; Center for Social and Behavioral Science; National Art Education Association; the Disability Studies in Art Education Special Interest Group; the Illinois Art Education Association; the International Society for Education through Art, or InSEA, which is an affiliate of The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization [UNESCO]; and the United States Society for Education through Art.
Research Interests: While she is still very interested in various aspects of Teacher Identity/Subjectivity; (Popular) Visual Culture; Exploring Identity through Artmaking; and Fandoms/Fan Art, she has recently turned her attention to a more personal area of research. She is researching Neurodivergence in Academia, especially autism and the autistic lifeworld, through her affiliations with the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science & Technology, the Carl R Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, and the Center for Social & Behavioral Science.
As a late-in-life diagnosed autistic professor, Hetrick is focusing mainly on autistic identity and the autistic lived experience. Currently, she is working with an interdisciplinary team of scientists including a geneticist/cell & developmental biologist and a neuroscientist to explore and understand various autistic co-occurring conditions (formerly known as co-morbidities) from a neurogenetic, molecular and cellular level, and as a result, advocate for improved medical care, prevention, and maintenance for autistic adults. Using her phenomenological lived experience as the social model of disability context for the medical model of disability findings, Hetrick hopes to address the epistemic injustice that often occurs when researching ON autistics, not WITH autistics. In the near future, at the Beckman Institute, she hopes to research such issues as the mechanisms and processes of autistic adult cognitive development; how an autistic’s activities contribute to resilience through the adult lifespan; the development and evaluation of cost effective and life-integrated autistic interventions using psychology, neuroscience, kinesiology, education and more; and the mechanisms underlying autistic intervention effects, including those related to behavioral, neural, emotional, motivational, and social processes.
Of particular note, in April 2024, during Autism Awareness Month, Hetrick initiated, moderated, & presented the UIUC Autism Research Panel with Commentator Temple Grandin, with panelists Temple Grandin, Nien-Pei Tsai, Marie Channell, Amy Cohen, Tracey Wszalek, and Stephanie Ceman, at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois. 4-17-24
Panelist/Moderator: Dr Laura Hetrick (Art + Design; Art Education)
Title: Autie Prof- My Phenomenological Autistic Journey
Panelist: Dr Nien-Pei Tsai (Molecular & Integrative Physiology)
Title: Exploring New Medical Interventions for Fragile X Syndrome
Panelist: Dr Marie Channell (Speech & Hearing Science)
Title: Co-occurring Autism in Youth with Down Syndrome
Panelist: Dr Amy Cohen (Psychology; The Autism Clinic)
Title: The Illinois Children’s Autism Resources for Equitable Services (Illinois CARES) Project
Panelist Team: Dr Tracey Wszalek (Biomedical Imaging Center); Dr Stephanie Ceman (Cell & Developmental Biology); Dr Laura Hetrick (Art + Design)
Title: Interdisciplinary Working Group Reimag[in]ing Autism
LINKS TO OTHER SITES:
Editorship: Co-Editor, Visual Arts Research Journal, 2014—current. Visual Arts Research Journal
Link to Beckman Institute for Advanced Science & Technology profile: Beckman
Link to News Wise Expert profile: NewsWise
Link to Academia.edu and downloadable articles: Academia.edu
Link to University of Illinois Press and Book: University of Illinois Press
Education
The Ohio State University, Doctor of Philosophy, Art Education, Columbus, Ohio, 2010.
Dissertation: Exploring three pedagogical fantasies of becoming-teacher: A Lacanian and Deleuzo-Guattarian approach to unfolding the identity (re)formation of art student teachers, PhD dissertation, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, 2010. Doctoral Advisor: Kevin Tavin. Committee Members: J.T. Eisenhauer Richardson, Jack Richardson, & Robert Hite.
Research and publications
Ongoing and upcoming research
Press Links
2024
Selected publications
2024
- E-letter response to: Bridging two views of autism. Science, 384(6699).
- Op/Ed: Neurotypes as Operating Systems: All Types are Needed. Visible Magazine.
- Op/Ed: The Neurodiverse: Feeling Safe being Me. Psychology Today.
- The Intersectionality of Autism, Woman, and Scholar, in The Intersectionality of Critical Identities in Art Education, [Eds.] Steve Willis, Ryan Shin, & Allan Richard, InSEA Publications, 3-11.
- Yolac, A. & Hetrick, L. Streamers as Arts Educators: Exploring their Streaming Approaches as Pedagogical Practices, Games and Culture: A Journal of Interactive Media.
2023
- Black on Black on Black on Black: An interview with Artist-Scholar Dr. Blair Ebony Smith, Visual Arts Research, 49(1), 6-13.
- Conference Proceedings with Hetrick, L. ,Yolac, A., & Singh, I.P. “Twitch Streamers at the Fault Lines of Education: Exploring their Approaches to Engage Disinterested Students,” International Society for Education through Art [InSEA, a division of UNESCO] World Congress, Canakkale, Turkey.
- Conference Proceedings. “Navigating Socially-imposed Fault Lines: Critical Explorations of a Neurodivergent Autistic Identity,” International Society for Education through Art [InSEA, a division of UNESCO] World Congress, Canakkale, Turkey.
- Conference Proceedings. “Recognizing Compassion Fatigue in Teachers: Healing the Fault Lines of the Empathic-Self,” International Society for Education through Art [InSEA, a division of UNESCO] World Congress, Canakkale, Turkey.
- Current State of Play: Transitions, Visual Arts Research, 49(2), 1-5.
- Op/Ed: I am a real-life double exceptional high-achieving autistic woman. My life is not like ‘The Big Bang Theory.’ Visible Magazine.
- Recognizing Greatness in our own Time, Visual Arts Research, 49(1), 1-5.