Marissa McClure Sweeny

Dr. Marissa McClure Sweeny is committed to reconceptualizing images of historically marginalized groups of young children and to centering difference through collaborative scholarship, community-based pedagogy, and mentoring. She currently serves as Professor and Program Director of Early Childhood Education at Carlow University. Her forthcoming book, Children’s Digital Images, explores potentials of digital languages with young children. Her collaborative photographic work with young children has been exhibited in national venues including the Phoenix Museum of Art. As Montessori-trained and Reggio-inspired early childhood educator, she received her PhD in Art Education with an emphasis in early childhood studies from Penn State, an MA from the University of Arizona, and a BA from the University of Pennsylvania. She has been leading and administrating community-based and Saturday School art programs for young children and their caregivers for nearly twenty years. She is P-12 certified in Art and Language Arts. She is the co-author with Dr. Lynn Beudert, Professor Emerita of the University of Arizona, of the best-selling Curriculum Inquiry and Design for School and Community-Based Art Education, published by the National Art Education Association (NAEA) Press. She founded SQUAD Art Studio in 2017 and has directed the program ever since. She received the 2023 IUP Center for Teaching Excellence Heiges-Lamberski Award in Experiential Education, and the Charles and Irene Putnam Award for Excellence in Teaching from the University of Arizona.
Supervisors: Dr. Christine Marme Thompson, Dr. Brent Wilson, Dr. Yvonne Gaudelius, Dr. Sarah K. Rich, Dr. Lynn Beudert, and Dr. Elizabeth Garber