When Jerry Cohagan, a well respected theater director and professor at Olivet Nazarene University retired after many years of teaching and directing, there were some options for someone to fill his position, but the best choice was none other than Ashley Sarver.
Ashley Elizabeth Sarver, 28, was born in Lansing, Michigan. Sarver and her family then moved to Dayton, Ohio and she lived there until her high school graduation. She attended Olivet and in four years she received her bachelor’s degree in multimedia journalism. She then enrolled in the Olivet graduate program and received her MBA in leadership while she served as a graduate assistant for theatre in the communication department. But she wasn’t done there. She then headed to the University of North Carolina in Greensboro and received her MFA in directing.
Sarver has also served as the assistant director of a musical called Playwright’s Horizons, written by Janet Allard. Sarver has many directing credits such as “Our Town”, “A Piece of my Heart”, “The Little Mermaid”, and “All My Sons”. While she has directed many plays, she has also performed in some as well such as “It’s a Wonderful Life”.
When Sarver first heard she got the job at Olivet, she was overwhelmed with gratitude.
“Getting the job has been a conversation for many years but I still didn’t know if it was going to happen,” Sarver said. She has worked on many projects before coming to Olivet but Sarver felt like the Lord wanted her to lead at Olivet.
Sarver said she felt immense pressure when replacing Professor Cohagan. Cohagan has been Sarver’s mentor and friend for many years, but she still felt nervous filling in his shoes. Cohagan pushed Sarver to be her best and Sarver wants nothing more than to maintain Cohagan’s legacy at Olivet.
“I talk to Professor Cohagan about once a month,” Sarver said.
Sarver also gives credit to the communication faculty at Olivet. She feels very fortunate and blessed to be surrounded by a Christian-based work setting. This has helped her make authentic connections with the staff. With the help of the staff, they made this year possible.
One of Sarver’s favorite things about Olivet is that she is able to pray with her students. She loves the students that she teaches and loves that Olivet is faith-centered, which makes it special. Her biggest goal in life is to create art to educate, inspire, and point to Jesus.
Aside from Olivet, Sarver loves to read books, listen to music, and even build robots. Her favorite book is Ecclesiastes, a book in the Bible. Her favorite genre of music is jazz and bluegrass making Ella Fitzgerald as one of Sarver’s favorite artists. She has also built her own robot that can walk and even talk.
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