Susan Howard has been directing the youth media program at Pittsburgh Filmmakers/Pittsburgh Center for the Arts since 2007. She’s taught the college-level program at Pittsburgh Filmmakers since 1998 and also co-authored a film-making textbook, which is in its fourth edition and is used in almost one hundred university programs.

Howard grew up in West Mifflin, PA, and later earned a BA in Film from Penn State. She spent many years working as an editor for commercial and industrial video/film. Among other local production companies, she worked at WQED, where she began editing Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood in 1990 until the show’s completion in 2000. She also directed many of the “Picture Picture” segments of the show.

Her decade spent with Fred Rogers was as big an education as anything else. “His approach to media in relationship to child development had a profound impact on what I do today,” said Howard. “That experience led to my interest in media literacy and teaching young people to express themselves through their own personal media work.”

At Pittsburgh Filmmakers/Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, Howard connects with local organizations and schools to provide quality media literacy programs for children, parents, and educators. In doing so, she gets the reward of young people experiencing “the aha! Moment” as they build their media literacy skills.