Kristen Shahverdian

Kristen Shahverdian is the program director for campus free speech at PEN America, a nonprofit organization focusing on the intersection of literature and human rights to protect free expression in the United States and worldwide. Before PEN America, Shahverdian was a senior lecturer at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and was an adjunct professor of Pilates and movement education at Rowan University (NJ) and Temple University (PA) . As a trained dancer, choreographer, and educator, Shahverdian served as project manager for the Philadelphia Folklore Project and was writer and editor for the online dance journal thINKingDANCE.