Moira Pirsch
Dr. Moira Pirsch is a poet, scholar, and co-founder of AHAS: Archive of Health, Arts & Spirit, where the mission is to facilitate resilience programs, collaboration, and research that explore the intersections of health, arts, and spiritual well-being. As the Education Director at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center (MACC), one of the oldest performing arts centers in the Pacific Region of the world, Moira has led the development of Hawaii’s First Youth Poet Laureate Program, the Motivational Mele Series, and a shift towards culturally responsive teaching and healing through the arts statewide. Moira holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University's Teachers College and a Master's Degree from Harvard Graduate School of Education. She continues her research as a Coyle Fellow at the University of Notre Dame's Center for Literacy and as a Research Affiliate at Columbia University's Edmund W. Gordon Institute for Advanced Study. With roots in the Midwestern United States and Maui, HI, and as a 5th Generation Irish American, Moira’s work is deeply grounded in the transformative power of the arts to build community. She believes in miracles.
Ph.D., English Education, Teacher's College, Columbia University
M.Ed., Arts in Education, Harvard University
B.A., English Literature, University of Minnesota
Pirsch, M. (Forthcoming) Lords above us and within us: Race, Spirituality and Hip Hop Based Education. Journal of Interreligious Dialogue
Rajan, S. Roberts, K. Guerra, L. Pirsch, M. Morrell. E. (2017) Integrating health education efforts into core curriculum classrooms: Successes, challenges, and implications for urban middle schools. Journal of Adolescent Health
Pirsch, M. (2011, March 28). A Place to Blossom. Minnesota Women’s Press.
Pirsch, M. (2010, December 1). Learning to Live. University of Minnesota’s English Alumni Newsletter. Winter 2010. http://english.umn.edu/engagement/newsletter2010.php?entry=263366.
Pirsch, M. (2010 December). Broken Backbones. In HECUA’s Newsline Newsletter (pp 3). Minneapolis, MN
Pirsch, M. (2010 October 10). UWomen Rap. Minnesota Women’s Press. http://www.womenspress.com/main.asp?SectionID=124&SubSectionID=27&ArticleID=3759
Pirsch, M. (2008) A Quilt. In Someone Might Hear You: An Anthology of First Wave Poets (pp 50). Madison, WI: OMAI/First Wave Press
Pirsch, M. (2008). We Women. Printed in Minnesota Youth Writers Poetry Chapbook. Minneapolis, MN
Pirsch, M. In Kepecs, S. (2006) Hip Hop Goes to College. Wisconsin People and Ideas (pp. 14-19). Fall 2006.
Published poet and performer in multiple publications and venues in 12 states.
