Rate My Professor Antoinette Winstead

Antoinette Winstead, MFA, serves as Professor of Mass Communication and Drama and Drama Program Coordinator at Our Lady of the Lake University’s Salazar-Escobedo School of Communication. She earned her MFA in Film from Columbia University, MA in English Literature from Our Lady of the Lake University, BFA with honors in Film/Television Production from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, and AA in Theater from San Antonio College.

Winstead’s career at Our Lady of the Lake University spans nearly three decades, starting as an adjunct English lecturer in 1994 and achieving tenure as professor in 2005. She has held pivotal roles including Communication Arts Program Chair (1995–2010), Mass Communication and Drama Programs Director (2012–2022), Associate Dean for Accreditation, Assessment, and Planning in the College of Arts and Sciences (2015–2021), Drama Program Head (2011–2012 and 2022–present), and Director of the Escobedo School of Mass Communication and Theater (2022–2023). Her contributions encompass curriculum development and revisions, enrollment increases from 10 to 67 students in programs, creation of degree maps and assessment plans, supervision of faculty and students, establishment of the Veronica Salazar Media Center, and forging community partnerships with media and theater organizations. Her research specializations include horror film, television, and literature with emphasis on portrayals of race, gender, and social class reflecting cultural anxieties, as well as genocide and human rights violations in media. Key publications feature book chapters “The Devil Made Me Do It: The Devil in 1960s–1970s Horror Film” (McFarland, 2011) and “Doctor Who’s Women and His Little Blue Box: Time Travel as a Heroic Journey of Self-Discovery for Rose Tyler, Martha Jones, and Donna Noble” (McFarland, 2013). Winstead has garnered major poetry awards such as 2022 Pushcart Prize nomination for “Life Is…,” first-place Heart Award, J Paul Holcomb Memorial Free Verse Prize, and Ekphrastic Poetry Award (2022), Persimmon Award (2020), alongside honors including Francine Fleming Endowed Award for Teaching Excellence (2016), Presidential Mentoring Awards (2009, 2010), and theater directing recognitions for productions like Fences (2007) and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2010). She has directed over two dozen plays and had her plays performed at venues including The Jo Long Theater and San Pedro Playhouse.