Ilayda Altuntas, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Applied Intercultural Arts Research - GIDP
Ph.D. in Art Education with a minor in Curriculum & Instruction, The Pennsylvania State University
MS.Ed. in Art & Design Education, Pratt Institute
B.F.A. in Plastic Arts (Painting, Sculpture & Ceramics), Yeditepe University
Dr. Ilayda Altuntas earned her Ph.D. in Art Education from Pennsylvania State University. Her dissertation was titled "Pedagogy of Sounding: Tuning in Art Education" The dissertation involved the creation of a course called "Sound art & Installation at Pratt Institute's Center for Art, Design, and Community Engagement K-12 in collaboration with the director Daniel Bergman.
Altuntas is an emerging scholar, artist, and educator whose research in art education focuses on sound pedagogy, sonic art practices, and listening theories engaged in awareness and memory. Her scholarship explores how sound mediates identity, learning, and spatial experience in educational environments. She developed the Sounding Art Practice as Research (SAPAR) methodology in her dissertation, which investigates the intersections of sound, place, and cultural memory through creative practice.
She teaches undergraduate teacher-preparation courses and graduate seminars in arts-based and sensory ethnographic research methods. She also serves as the Program Coordinator of the Saturday Art School in the Art and Visual Culture Education (AVCE) program at the University of Arizona, where she mentors pre-service teachers and oversees program planning and curriculum development. She currently serves as the Chair for the Seminar for Research in Art Education (SRAE) at the National Art Education Association 2025-2027.
Her recent teaching and research practice includes the Art & Soundscapes: Collective Senses course, which invites students to explore cultural, social, and environmental soundscapes and translate them into visual works using printmaking, digital collage, and sculpture. Her broader pedagogical approach emphasizes curriculum design, sensory-based teaching methods, and licensure-focused instruction in art education.
Dr. Altuntas’ research has been published in NAEA News; the International Review of Qualitative Research (IRQR), and the International Journal of Arts-Based Educational Research (iJABER) , reflecting her ongoing contributions to sound-based inquiry in the art education field.
Before her time in higher education, she worked in NYC's Public School System; and taught Art History and Visual Art classes (in the South Bronx, Harlem, and Manhattan districts). She also worked at Pratt Institute's Saturday Art School for five years; supervised the Saturday Art School at IU Bloomington and Saturday Art Program at Penn State. She has experience with edTPA NY licensure processes; her students' work was displayed in the P.S. Art 2016 exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Manhattan Borough's Art Festival 2016, and MoMA in April 2017.
She received her M.S. in Art and Design Education from Pratt Institute (Brooklyn, NY) and wrote her master's thesis on the experiences of art facilitators in NYC's detention centers, with a focus on the work of The Drama Club NYC, a non-profit organization that brings improvisational theater and performative experiences to NYC's incarcerated youth. She also served on the New York State Juvenile Justice Coalition board for a year. In addition, she holds a double-major B.F.A. with high honors in Plastic Arts (Painting, Sculpture & Ceramic) and Fashion & Textile Design from Yeditepe University, Istanbul.
