Faculty & Staff

Valerie Ramshur
(she/her/hers)
Head of Costume Design
Associate Professor of Professional Practice
On Sabbatical Fall 2024-Spring 2025
Theater

Curiosity ignites boundless energy, transforming the mundane into the extraordinary and the unknown into adventure. Through collaboration and risk, we harness this energy to amplify our creative potential.

Degrees & Accomplishments
MFA, Costume Design for Stage and Film (New York University, Tisch School of the Arts)
BA, Theater (Bennington College)
Lucille Lortel Nominee for Outstanding Costume Design
Founder of the Costume Educators Forum
Member of the Costume Society of America, the Association of Dress Historians (UK), American Theatrical Costume Association (ATCA), United Scenic Artists Local 829
Topics of Expertise
Costume Design
History of Costume, Décor, and Architecture
Intersection of dress, identity, material culture
Biography

Nationally recognized costume designer, historian, and multidisciplinary artist, exploring the intersection of dress, identity, material culture, and art, fostering interdisciplinary discourse. A project archivist and curator, cataloging, and presenting talks on dress history, costume design, and historical fashion in art, collaborating with cultural institutions, researchers, and curators to promote costume design art and preserve artists’ legacies.

New York City and regional credits include Sidewalk Stories (En Garde Arts), Inky, Victoria Martin Math Team Queen (The Women’s Project), LAByrinth Theater, Till The Break of Dawn (The Culture Project), St. Nicola Cycle, Pusong Babae / Heart of a Woman (Lincoln Center), The Glass House (Theater Row), Meshugah (Naked Angels), A Splintered Soul (Theater Three), Tuesdays With Morrie (Minetta Lane), Romeo and Juliet (Acting Company), The Fantasticks (Cabrillo Stage), ART (Actors Theater), A Boston Marriage (Guthrie Theater), Life is A Dream, A Phoenix Too Frequent, and The Allegory of Land, Water & Air (Rutgers Theater Company).

Broadway associate costume design credits include Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Broadway and National Tour), Ruined (Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Chicago), A Behanding in Spokane (Broadway), The Motherf**ker with the Hat (Broadway), Lombardi (Broadway), Caroline Or Change (West End, Broadway, Off-Broadway), Russell Simmons’ Def Poetry Jam (Broadway), Bobbi Boland (Broadway), Nice Work If You Can Get It (Broadway), The Producers (Broadway), A Raisin in The Sun (Broadway), Guys and Dolls (Broadway), Pajama Game (Broadway), Chaplin (Broadway), and Madonna’s Rebel Heart World Tour.

Television and film credits include The Reader (feature), All My Children, One Life to Live, The View, A Gifted Man, Hostages, Cinema Therapy, Major League Baseball, and the National Hockey League, as well as national commercial and industrial projects and print campaigns.

She serves as an Associate Professor of Professional Practice and Head of Costume Design at Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts.