Pat Finot - Professor Emeritus

Pat Finot, CSULB Professor Emeritus, taught in the California State University system for forty years: thirteen years at CSU Los Angeles, twenty-two years full-time at CSU Long Beach, and five additional years part-time at CSULB after retiring in 1999.

A former Chair of the Department of Dance, Professor Finot was Production Coordinator/Concert Director, and taught graduate and undergraduate courses.  In the 1970’s, she was responsible for obtaining degree-earning status for dance in the CSU and was a co-creator of the BA, BFA, MA, and MFA Degree Programs. She also wrote the College of the Arts’ Graduate Arts Management Program. Among many University grants and awards, she was honored as the University’s Legacy Lecturer in spring 1999.

Professor Finot was the founding Producer/Manager of the Bella Lewitzky Dance Company. Subsequently, she was Artistic Director/Principal Choreographer of The Moving Company, a modern dance touring company, selected as one of twenty companies in the country to participate in the National Endowment for the Arts’ Artists In Schools Program, and included in the NEA’s prestigious Dance Touring Program.  The company was also an active participant in Performing Treeout of the Los Angeles Music Center. 

Professor Finot was the founding President of the California Dance Educators Association, served on the board of the Western Division of the Association of American Dance Companies, and on the national board of the American College Dance Festival Association.  She was a founding member of Phi Beta Delta, the Society for International Scholars and with, Tom Ruzika, co-authored the chapter: “Technical Theatre:  Its Relationship to Dance Theatre” in the book Dance, The Art of Production. 

Professor Finot experienced an exciting and complex career in both the professional and academic arenas, encompassing the artistic and administrative challenges of the field.  Within this mix, her first love was life with dancers in the studio and in the theatre, which after all… is what it was all about.