Carol Beckley is Theater Department Chair at Buffalo State University. Her professional work includes set design, costume design and scenic art for the stage, photography, art direction, and design for TV and film and consultation. She is currently the Executive Producer for the theater season at Buffalo State University. Carol has designed over 200 theater and dance productions in venues from Toronto to Seattle and has been the art director for network television programming on PBS, Showtime, and Fox.

At the university level, she has presented award-winning work with students at the National Conference for Undergraduate Research, The New York State Art Teachers Association Conference, The Kennedy Center/American College Theater Festival and the Great Lakes Independent Schools Arts Festival. She has taught theater classes at Artpark and served as a visiting artist at UB. She is a SUNY Center for Online Teaching Excellence Fellow and a BSC Open Educational Resources Fellow focusing on equal access to education for all students. She hosts globally attended webinars focusing on creative commons licensing, online pedagogy, and open education.

Carol attended FIT for Interior Design, Ithaca College for her BFA in Theater Design, and Southern Methodist University for her MFA in Stage Design, magna cum laude.