Dr. Marcia Rosal, Professor and Director of FSU Art Therapy Program, ATR-BC, HLM AATA.

Emeritus Professor
Department of Art Education
Curriculum Vitae (CV)

Contact

mrosal@fsu.edu
P: 850-644-2926
F: 850-644-5067

Social Media

LinkedIn

Marcia L. Rosal, PhD, ATR-BC, HLM is a Past-chairperson of the Art Education Department and former director of the Art Therapy Program at the Florida State University, received a master’s degree in art therapy from the University of Louisville (1977) and a doctorate in educational psychology from the University of Queensland (1986).

Prior to joining the faculty at FSU in 1999, Marcia taught for 14 years at the University of Louisville in the Expressive Therapies Program where she received the 1998 Distinguished Teacher Award. She has been an adjunct or visiting professor in several other art therapy programs at various colleges and universities in the US and abroad including Australia, Britain, Latvia, South Korea and Taiwan. In addition, she has presented frequently at state, national, and international conferences. She is a Fulbright Scholar and in 2008 spent a semester in Taiwan lecturing about art therapy and conducting research on the career choices of art therapists in that country. She is now a Fulbright Specialist and in 2014 traveled to Latvia to work with a newly developed art therapy program at the Riga Stradins University in Riga.

Based on over 35 years of art therapy practice, Dr. Rosal has written extensively in art therapy journals and has chapters in several edited volumes. Her book, Approaches to Art Therapy with Children, has been translated into Spanish and Chinese. These writings illustrate her wide interest in art therapy research, art therapy work with children and teens, group art therapy, and cognitive-behavioral approaches to art therapy. She edited a handbook of art therapy with her colleague, Dr. David Gussak, for the Wiley-Blackwell publishing company. In addition to co- editing this volume, she contributed chapters on cognitive-behavioral art therapy approaches and group art therapy for this volume.

She developed a project on the use of art museums and museum objects in art therapy in conjunction with the FSU Museum of Fine Arts. This collaboration will culminate in the development of a handbook on the use of art museums in art therapy for mental health professionals and counselors. She also completed a 5 year project with the Pass Christian Boys and Girls Club to serve the post-Katrina counseling needs of the students in that community.

Dr. Rosal is active professionally. She served as the Executive Secretary of the Kentucky Art Therapy Association for several years prior to her move to Florida. On the national level, she served and chaired what is now called the Educational Program Approval Board and was active on several other committees including honors, nominating, research and programs committees for the national conferences prior to her election to the Board of Directors. Her 8-year tenure on the board culminated with a two-year term as President (1999 – 2001). She is active as an editorial board member on the international journal, the Arts in Psychotherapy. She also served as the founding editor of the Journal of Art for Life and continues to serve on its editorial board. She was given the Honorary Life Member award, the highest honor bestowed by the American Art Therapy Association in 2011 for her many contributions to the profession of art therapy. During her tenure at FSU, she has received both teaching (2013) and research awards (2012) from the College of Visual Arts, Theatre and Dance. She has chaired over a dozen dissertations and numerous master’s theses.

Education

PhD in Educational Psychology from the University of Queensland, Australia 1986
MA in Art Therapy from the University of Louisville, Kentucky 1977
BS in Art Education from the Pennsylvania State University 1973

Areas of Responsibility

Dr. Rosal is the former director of the FSU Art Therapy Program. In this role, she served as the main advisor for students in the master’s program. She was also the doctoral advisor for students in the art therapy specialization on the EdD and PhD levels.

Teaching Areas

Dr. Rosal’s teaching interests are in art therapy research, group art therapy, supervision issues and art therapy and psychopathology.

Research Areas

Dr. Rosal’s research areas include conducting historical research about art therapy research, ethnographic research on the career paths of art therapists in Asia, and uncovering the uses of the art museum in art therapy practice.

Select Scholarly/Creative Works & Awards

• Co-editor of the Wiley Blackwell Handbook of Art Therapy with David E. Gussak (In press).
• Cognitive-behavioral art therapy revisited; in Wiley Blackwell Handbook of Art Therapy (In press).
• Contemporary group art therapy; in Wiley Blackwell Handbook of Art Therapy (In press).
• Art therapy and social justice in post-Katrina Mississippi; in Art education for social justice (2010)
• Opening the doors of art museums for therapeutic processes (2006).