Heidi Klein Whitus has been the Cinema Director at NESA since January, 2019. She was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She has a B.F.A. in Cinema from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, an M.F.A. in Video Research from the Art Media Studies Department at Syracuse University, and an M.A. from the University of Texas at Austin in Foreign Language Education. Her work in photography, film and video has been shown in exhibits and festivals in the U.S. and abroad. Prior to teaching, Ms. Whitus worked in the film and video industry in New York.

Ms. Whitus taught at Communications Arts High School in San Antonio for many years, where her students received city-wide, regional, state and national recognition for their video and multimedia projects. She also teaches at San Antonio College in the Media Communications Department.

Ms. Whitus loves to travel. She has visited 30 countries, and has been fortunate to combine her love of travel with her passion for teaching. She was an instructor for the Monteverde New Media Expedition in Costa Rica, and recently she has been a trainer for Digital Storytelling Workshops in Ghana, Qatar, Bosnia, Bangladesh and Washington, D.C. sponsored by the State Department.