Congratulations, Dr. Sheila Lorenzo de la Peña!

Dr. Sheila Lorenzo de la Pena

The Department of Art Education gives a big round of applause to Dr. Sheila Lorenzo de la Peña for the successful defense of her dissertation titled Visual Expression and Resilience of Art Therapists!

Sheila’s research particularly focuses upon the vulnerability of empathy exhaustion, more commonly known as burn-out, among art therapists and how art therapists may use personal art creation for self-preservation. Sheila’s extensive personal interviews and the artwork of study participants highlighted her claim that “art therapists are vulnerable but armed” with responsive art making to process emotionally difficult content.

Sheila defended her dissertation on June 29th, 2015 in front of FSU faculty and committee members David Gussak, Carolyn Henne, Marcia Rosal, and Sara Scott Shields. When speaking about Dr. Lorenzo de la Peña’s work, committee chair Dr. David Gussak said “I was proud. I was very proud.”

For pictures of the defense click here.