“Degrees of Success,” the College of Arts and Humanities’ alumni speaker series, continues this semester with a pair of graduates from the Department of Performing Arts.
Filmmaker, writer and actress Teresa Catherine ’11, along with fashion designer Elizabeth Anne McNamara ’14, will speak at 3:30 p.m., February 24 at the Brooks Center for the Performing Arts, room 117.
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The Degrees of Success series is part of the college’s effort to connect successful alumni with current students, giving students real-world role models for transitioning from college to careers. Founding Dean Nicholas Vazsonyi introduced the series concept after hearing the success stories of multiple alumni. The first talk, featuring English alumna Heather Simmons Jones, was held in September 2025.
“One of the great things about an arts and humanities degree is that it can lead in so many different career directions, many of them not even imagined by our students. I am continually astounded by our college’s alumni, both for the level of success they achieve and the variety of fields in which they excel,” Vazsonyi said. “There is so much our students can learn from our graduates about how to apply their degrees in novel and dynamic ways.”
About the Speakers
Teresa Catherine
Teresa Catherine is a multifaceted filmmaker, writer and actress based in New York, dedicated to championing women both in front of and behind the camera. As the founder of Maid & Prince Productions, she intertwines her career aspirations with a mission to foster inclusivity and accessibility in the film industry.
Teresa began her filmmaking journey with “Joke’s on You” and “Rocket (Wo)Men,” demonstrating resourcefulness with award-winning shorts created on minimal budgets. She followed those up with “Only the Dead” and “interiorem pueri (inner child),” shorts with larger scope and bi-coastal teams, garnering acclaim on the festival circuit, including Best Horror Short at Raindance NYC and the Hot List at Cleveland International Film Festival. Her feature-length scripts “No One Likes a Mad Woman” and “Dissent” were semi-finalists in Screenwriting at Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival and are currently in development.
Teresa earned a B.A. in production studies from Clemson and an MFA in Classical Acting from The Catholic University of America, bringing theatrical expertise to her cinematic endeavors.
Elizabeth Anne McNamara
Elizabeth Anne McNamara is a South Carolina-based fashion designer, and Greenville
Fashion Week’s reigning “Emerging Designer.” Her design aesthetic has been described as “northern sass meets southern class,” with an emphasis on whimsy, feminine and fun.
Elizabeth Anne holds a B.A. in Production Studies from Clemson University and a BFA in Fashion Design from the Fashion Institute of Technology. While studying in New York, she interned for Rebecca Minkoff in their “Ready-to-Wear” department. Post graduation, Elizabeth worked as an associate childrenswear designer, specializing in Girls’ Ready-to-Wear and Special Occasion.
In 2022, Elizabeth Anne decided to move back home to Greenville, to launch her brand EAM1992.
