The New Horizons Award honors a clear and impressive record of scholarly research; the potential to contribute significantly to future directions of public address through scholarship, teaching and/or community-engaged work; and a record of challenging of disciplinary hegemonies and/or expansion of the domain of public address to include diverse, historically marginalized scholars and areas of scholarship that have historically fallen outside of rhetoric’s traditional scope.

Chuck Morris

In 2022, Morris was inducted as a Distinguished Scholar by the NCA. He has also been the recipient of NCA’s Douglas Ehninger Distinguished Rhetorical Scholar Award (2021), three-time recipient of NCA’s Golden Monograph Award (2003, 2010, and 2022), as well as NCA’s CCS and RCT divisions’ distinguished scholar awards (2020, 2016), the Randy Majors Award for Distinguished LGBTQ Scholarship (2008) and the Karl Wallace Memorial Award (2001) for early career achievement.

Morris is co-founding editor of QED: A Journal in GLBTQ Worldmaking. His books include “Queering Public Address,” “An Archive of Hope: Harvey Milk’s Speeches and Writings,” “Remembering the AIDS Quilt,” and “The Conceit of Context.” His essays and guest edited special issues and forums have appeared in the Quarterly Journal of Speech, Rhetoric and Public Affairs, Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, Text and Performance Quarterly, Women’s Studies in Communication and elsewhere.

The NCA advances communication as the discipline that studies all forms, modes, media and consequences of communication through humanistic, social scientific and aesthetic inquiry. NCA serves the scholars, teachers and practitioners who are its members by enabling and supporting their professional interests in research and teaching.

Aaron Sorkin

Sorkin, a graduate of the Department of Drama, was among 19 recipients that comprised the 2022 and 2023 cohorts of the National Humanities Medal, which honors an individual or organization whose work has deepened the nation’s understanding of the human experience, broadened citizens’ engagement with history or literature or helped preserve and expand Americans’ access to cultural resources. The manages the nominations process for the medal on behalf of the White House.

“The National Humanities Medal recipients have enriched our world through writing that moves and inspires us; scholarship that enlarges our understanding of the past; and through their dedication to educating, informing and giving voice to communities and histories often overlooked,” says NEH Chair Shelly C. Lowe (Navajo).

Sorkin’s early career began as a playwright. His stage play, “A Few Good Men,” caught the attention of a Hollywood producer, who bought the film rights before the play even premiered. Castle Rock Entertainment then hired Sorkin to adapt to film “A Few Good Men,” which went on to become a box office and critical success in 1992.

Sorkin’s 2010 feature film screenplay, “The Social Network,” earned him an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, and the film also garnered two additional Oscars and four Golden Globe Awards, including best picture and best screenplay. His other films include “Molly’s Game” (directorial debut), “The Trial of the Chicago 7” (Golden Globe Award), “Moneyball,” “Steve Jobs” (Golden Globe Award), “The American President” and “Malice.”

In 1998, Sorkin’s television career began when he created the comedy series “Sports Night” for the ABC network. His next TV series, the political drama “The West Wing,” debuted on the NBC network and would go on to win more than 20 Emmys, a Golden Globe for Best Television Drama Series, two consecutive Peabody Awards for Broadcast and Cable Excellence, and two Humanitas Prizes and Television Critics Awards. His other television series include “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” (NBC) and “The Newsroom” (HBO).

Aaron Sorkin (back row, third from left), Drama Department Chair Ralph Zito (back row, fourth from left) and 2024 Sorkin Week students

After more than a decade away from the theater, Sorkin returned to adapt for the stage his screenplay “The Farnsworth Invention” (2007). His stage adaptation of Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” debuted on Broadway in 2018 and received nine Tony Award nominations, winning one. He adapted the classic musical “Camelot” in 2023; the Broadway production received five Tony nominations, including Best Revival of a Musical.

In March 2006 Sorkin funded and launched the Sorkin in LA Learning Practicum—also known as “Sorkin Week”—which is a weeklong immersion experience for VPA drama students to meet with professionals working in all facets of the entertainment industry, including actors, writers, talent agents, directors and producers.

Sorkin is a member of the VPA Council and has received the University’s George Arents Pioneer Medal, the highest alumni honor awarded by the University. He delivered the University’s Commencement address in 2012 and received an honorary degree.

Susannah Sayler

The $8,000 unrestricted cash grant, administered by the , is open to New York State photography artists living and working anywhere in the following regions of New York State: Western New York, Finger Lakes, Southern Tier, Central New York, North Country, Mohawk Valley, Capital District, Hudson Valley and Long Island. The support for this funding is provided by  (JGS), a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the photographic arts.

“Edifice II” by Susannah Sayler, 2023. This work is drawn from a series of photographic collages that consider how to represent the Amazonian rainforest. It is part of a larger body of work titled “The Crystal Forest” (2019-2024), that also includes a video essay.

Sayler works with a variety of media including photography, video, writing and installation—often in collaboration with others, to deepen our understanding of ecology and the poetics of relation. Her work has been exhibited in diverse venues from art museums to public spaces and interdisciplinary institutions such as science museums, history museums and anthropology museums, including MASS MoCA, North Adams, Massachusetts; The Momentary @ Crystal Bridges, Bentonville, Arkansas; Kunsthal Rotterdam, the Netherlands; North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, North Carolina; and The American Writers Museum and Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago. She has been awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship (2023), New York Artist Fellowship (2016), the Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship (2014), the Center for Art and Environment Research Fellowship (2013) and the Loeb Fellowship at Harvard Graduate School of Design (2008).

In 2006, with her longtime collaborator, Edward Morris, Sayler co-founded The Canary Project, a collective project to produce art and media that cultivate emotional understanding of the climate crisis. In 2020, she co-founded a new long-term project in Hudson, New York, called Toolshed, which gathers and shares tools that empower individuals and communities to live ecologically. ’ archives are collected by The Center for Art and Environment at the Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, Nevada.

View-Master viewer with commercial slide disc and stereoscopic viewers for unprocessed film. (Photo by Andrew Saluti, Fisher-Price, Inc.)

The in the College of Visual and Performing Arts’ School of Design has received a $28,000 grant from Buffalo-based Fisher-Price, Inc. to fund the coordination and digitization of the View-Master archive.

View-Master was first introduced at the 1939 New York World’s Fair by inventors Harold Graves and William Gruber. In 1951, View-Master acquired film-strip company Tru-Vue and, with it, the licensing rights for popular production companies such as Disney. Since then, the popular stereoscopic viewer has documented millions of three-dimensional images of national parks and international destinations, behind-the-scenes footage of countless movie and television productions, original animation cells, scientific images and historic events that have shaped the 20th century, including never-before-seen images from the Apollo space mission and the coronation of Queen Elizbeth II. The View-Master was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in 1999.

The project is coordinated by Andrew J. Saluti, associate professor and program coordinator of the museum studies program. “We’re so thrilled to be working on this project with Fisher-Price,” says Saluti. “This kind of hands-on, real-world archival collections work is a cornerstone of our approach to curriculum and preparing emerging museum professionals for their careers. As for the archive, the potential for future curatorial projects, research and reference to a century of popular culture is truly exciting.”

The initial phase of the project focused on digitization and interpretation of the mass collection of film positives, slides and other historic types of photo media with the aim of creating a searchable, illustrated database. This important first step will open the door to future projects that will include curatorship and design of exhibitions and other public projects.

Abby Cullen G’24 examines color positive film shot for stereoscopic viewing. (Photo by Andrew Saluti, Fisher-Price, Inc.)

Together with museum studies graduate students Molly Dano G’25, Paola Manzano G’25, Hannah Riley G’25, and Abby Cullen G’24, the team completed five three-day onsite sessions at the Fisher-Price headquarters in May. During these sessions, they digitized and interpreted decades of original film positives, much of which had never been seen by the public.

The range of media includes classic Hollywood productions to contemporary blockbusters. Riley worked on a large collection of set photos from the “Harry Potter” series. “I scanned slides from the set of ‘[Harry Potter and] the Sorcerer’s Stone’ (2001, Warner Brothers). It was exciting to uncover that many of the props you see in the movie, like some of the floating candles in the Great Hall, are real! The details that these images reveal are amazing.”

The archive also includes original animation cels and film from Disney, Warner Brothers, Hannah-Barbara and more, all created specifically for stereoscopic viewing. “As someone who grew up obsessed with their View-Master, this project is very special and exciting to me,” explains Dano. “Having a background in illustration, it is really interesting to get to look at so much original material, including hand-painted animation cels. Examining the techniques and styles used has not only given me a better understanding about how stereoscopic images work, but it has also been highly rewarding in terms of my own artistic and collections-based practice.”

Cullen and Manzano are drawn to historic images of where they grew up, leveraging their personal experience as well as giving insight into the interpretation of the materials. “As a Niagara Falls local, it’s been really fascinating to see images of this area from decades ago, illustrating how much the landscape has evolved into what we now see and experience,” explains Cullen.

Manzano, a native of Puerto Rico, was able to correct misidentified locations or names immediately. “Working on images from Puerto Rico from the early 1970s, it was interesting to see what has and has not changed on the island in the past 50 years. It makes me feel more connected to my home, even from Upstate New York.”

Salma Mahmoud ’26 (left) and Chloe Mendoza Smith ’26 perform in the Department of Drama production of “Touch(ed),” April 2024. (Photo by Michael Davis)

The Hollywood Reporter (THR) has ranked the College of Visual and Performing Arts’ among the for the second consecutive year.

Ranked No. 23 in THR’s June 19 issue, the department was noted for such outstanding alumni as Aaron Sorkin ’83, H’12 and Vanessa Williams ’85, as well as the opportunities afforded by its relationship with , a professional theater company, and the immersive Tepper Semester in New York City.

The department offers four bachelor of fine arts degree programs in acting, musical theater, stage management, and theater design and technology, as well as a bachelor of science degree program in drama that features a theater management track. The department’s culture of rigorous conservatory-style training at a major research university with a direct connection to the working professionals at ���ϲ����� Stage is of great benefit to students in all of its programs, including the non-performance areas.

Drama students also benefit from the support of the department’s extensive alumni network and additional study abroad/study away opportunities in Los Angeles, London (with classes at Shakespeare’s Globe and Rose Bruford College) and Florence, Italy.

Sara Villagio

Villagio is charged with overseeing all marketing strategy, creative and customer service efforts for Carnegie Hall’s three iconic stages, including hundreds of performances each year that represent every kind of music as well as global music education and social impact programs.

Since joining the Hall in 2017, Villagio introduced customer-curated subscription packages, led a holistic brand and visual identity update, acted as a critical leadership team member for the Hall’s post-pandemic reopening in 2021 and developed a go-to-market strategy for Carnegie Hall+, a premium video subscription on-demand channel available nationwide on Prime Video Channels, the Apple TV app and other providers.

Prior to Carnegie Hall, Villagio enjoyed nearly 12 successful years at Jazz at Lincoln Center (JALC), where she was director of marketing. Rising through the ranks, she oversaw marketing efforts for JALC’s three performance venues, the world-renowned Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis and extensive education programs. Throughout her tenure, Villagio successfully grew JALC’s concert-season ticket income, including major increases in subscriptions. Her greatest passion, however, continues to be partnering closely with artists—some established, and many more just emerging—and finding effective ways to share their creative vision with audiences.

Villagio is an alumna of the music industry program in VPA’s Rose, Jules R. and Stanford S. Setnor School of Music and a graduate of the Arts & Business Council of New York’s Arts Leadership Institute in Executive Education. She is also a member of the VPA Council. A resident of Jackson Heights, Queens, she loves taking in cultural offerings of all mediums across New York City. In addition to her love for arts and culture, she is a certified kettlebell coach, enabling her to share her love of strength training with others.

Sequential exhibitions will be open to the public through March 30, April 5-13 and April 19-28, providing an opportunity to experience the latest work by emerging artists as they grapple with what it means to make art in this socio-political moment. “Despite the diverse range of ideas, reflections and projects, an elusive yet resonant undercurrent of unsettlement, whether subtle or overflowing, serves as a shared wellspring of inspiration,” says curator Juliana Fagua Arias, Ph.D. candidate at Cornell University.

Spanning disciplines that include painting, sculpture, ceramics, printmaking, photography, film, video, installation and performance, the exhibition offers a glimpse into the artists’ diverse practices and innovative approaches. A complete list of each exhibition’s participating artists, with links to their digital portfolios, can be found on the .

The themes and concepts presented by the artists in this year’s exhibition range from the disruption of archival histories to explorations of intersectional identity centered on gender, migration and belonging. Arias explains, “Borne from diverse origins like the echoes of family history, the winds of political turmoil, the currents of environmental challenges, the shadows of systemic oppression or the reflections on mortality, this internal unease becomes a poetic muse—a force propelling creative resistance, eliciting responses and inspiring reactions.”

Though their interests vary widely, most of the presenting artists work interdisciplinary as they forge new ground through exploratory creative processes. “The challenging exploration of these complex ideas and emotions becomes a graceful liberation, a gentle release from the weight of anguish, allowing for an embrace of a subtle yet empowering sentiment of freedom,” says Arias.

From left: Declan Yurt, “Reveal” (2022); Jasmine Veronica, “Grace of Her Touch” (2023)

The exhibition will be held at the Nancy Cantor Warehouse galleries, 350 W. Fayette St., ���ϲ�����, with upcoming opening receptions April 5, 6-8 p.m. and April 19, 7-9 p.m. Visitors will have the opportunity to meet the artists, learn about their inspiration and creative process and engage with the vibrant arts community of ���ϲ�����.

According to Arias, “the exhibition is envisioned as an unrestricted stage where artists feel at liberty to reveal and perform their provocative, vulnerable and unbound selves. It is a celebration of artistic expression, offering a space for self-discovery and liberation from the constraints that may have previously held them back.”

“Unsettled, Unbridled, Unbound” is free and open to the public. Gallery hours are daily, noon-5 p.m.

The cohort will exhibit additional works at Novado Gallery, 110 Morgan St., Jersey City, New Jersey, from April 26-May 4, with an opening reception scheduled for April 26 from 6-9 p.m.

For more information about the exhibition, contact Kate Warren, kwarre01@syr.edu.

Top row, left to right: Taisiya Aristakesyan, Nina Chen, James Hutchinson, Vanessa Marcos Pires de Oliveira, Erica Negrini and Elianna Pérez. Bottom row, left to right: Gabrielle Pinkney, Sofia Pizer, Yegunahareeta Printup, Kaycie Romano, Jeremy Todd Shinder and Melanie Torres.

Twelve seniors in the (VPA) have been named VPA Scholars, the college’s highest undergraduate academic honor.

The VPA Scholars program was established to recognize the achievements of the college’s top seniors. Students are selected based on academic performance, creative/scholarly work and service to the college and the community.

Traditionally, the VPA Scholars are recognized at the college’s convocation ceremony during . The 2024 VPA convocation is scheduled for Saturday, May 11, at 7:30 p.m. in the JMA Wireless Dome.

The 2024 VPA Scholars are the following:

• Taisiya Aristakesyan, a fashion design major in the School of Design
• Nina Chen, a fashion design major in the School of Design
• James Hutchinson, a film major in the Department of Film and Media Arts
• Vanessa Marcos Pires de Oliveira, a film major in the Department of Film and Media Arts
• Erica Negrini, a film major in the Department of Film and Media Arts
• Elianna Pérez, a studio arts major in the School of Art
• Gabrielle Pinkney, a music industry major in the Setnor School of Music
• Sofia Pizer, a theater design and technology major in the Department of Drama
• Yegunahareeta Printup, a fashion design major in the School of Design
• Kaycie Romano, a music education major in the Setnor School of Music and School of Education
• Jeremy Todd Shinder, a film major in the Department of Film and Media Arts
• Melanie Torres, an environmental and interior design major in the School of Design

Patrick Vu

Patrick Vu, a master’s candidate in choral conducting at Texas Tech University, has been announced as winner of the 2023 Gregg Smith Choral Composition Contest in the Rose, Jules R. and Stanford S. Setnor School of Music in the College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA).

The award, which is named for renowned composer and choral conductor Gregg Smith, is given biennially to a composer between the ages of 21 and 35 who has written and submitted a musical composition for a Setnor School choral ensemble.

Vu won for his work “Morning Song,” which was selected by a committee of Setnor faculty from numerous compelling entries. Vu’s work will be premiered by the ���ϲ����� Singers, the award-winning flagship choral ensemble under the direction of John Warren, professor of applied music and performance and director of choral activities in the Setnor School. The premiere will be part of the Singers’ performance on Wednesday, April 24, at 8 p.m. in the Rose and Jules R. Setnor Auditorium, Crouse College.

Vu is an award-winning composer from Allen, Texas, whose music has quickly gained attention in the United States. His music has been performed internationally by both professional and collegiate ensembles. He has received commissions and performances from professional organizations including VocalEssence, Chor Leoni, Dallas Chamber Choir, Chorus Austin, the Princeton Singers, Young New Yorkers’ Chorus, Choral Arts Ensemble of Portland, Lubbock Chorale, Fort Worth Opera, the Savannah VOICE Festival and numerous universities around the country. Most recently, Vu was awarded the 2023 American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) Raymond Brock Prize for Student Composers for his piece “On the Hillside.”

Vu’s works have been performed at regional and national ACDA conferences; various state Music Educators Association conventions; Society of Composers, Inc. regional conferences; National Association of Teachers of Singing; and more. While Vu remains mostly self-published, his choral music is published by Gentry, Hinshaw, Galaxy, Carl Fischer and Alliance. Additionally, his art songs have been published by North Star Music in its “Modern Music for New Singers” series. Vu holds a B.M. in music composition and a B.M.E. in vocal music education from Texas Christian University.

The Setnor School established the Gregg Smith Choral Composition Contest and the Gregg Smith Graduate Choral Conducting Scholarship in 2008 with the support of an anonymous donor. Smith had a 30-year relationship with ���ϲ�����; the Gregg Smith Singers and Smith collaborated with University choirs and faculty members on operas, concerts and numerous premieres at the University.

The Setnor School of Music hosts the Gregg Smith Choral Composition Contest as part of its mission to offer opportunities for the highest level of professional musical development within the context of a broad, humanistic education; to encourage and facilitate the broadest possible range of creative options for students and faculty, recognizing that the Western classical tradition continues to grow and expand and that it is only one in a world of myriad others; to uphold the school’s role and responsibilities as a citizen of the community, and of the larger culture, by serving the community through outreach and education and by creating and maintaining an inclusive environment in which all can pursue musical interests and develop their gifts; and to offer substantive musical opportunities for non-music majors from all corners of the University.

Kelly Gallagher

Experimental filmmaker and animator , an associate professor of film in the College of Visual and Performing Arts’ Department of Film and Media Arts, has received a 2024 .

Creative Capital awarded a total of $2.5 million in grants to artists for the creation of 50 groundbreaking new works. Chosen via a democratic process of external peer review out of 5,600 applications, the 28 successful visual arts project proposals and 22 film/moving image project proposals, representing 54 artists in total, were awarded on the basis of their innovative new approaches to painting, drawing, sculpture, public art, video art, architecture and design, printmaking, installation, documentary film, experimental film, narrative film and socially engaged forms. The award provides each individual artist with unrestricted project funding of $50,000.

Gallagher won for her project “,” a documentary film that explores three topics: histories of Irish and Palestinian solidarity, the politics of early Irish immigrants in America regarding the abolition of slavery, and the assassination of Robert Kennedy and subsequent incarceration of Palestinian Sirhan Sirhan. Using collage filmmaking strategies, oscillating between super 8mm film, found footage and handcrafted experimental animation, Gallagher asks her audience to engage with competing historical narratives.

A still from “By All Your Memories,” a film by Kelly Gallagher

As an anti-capitalist and prison abolitionist who grew up in an Irish-American Catholic household, stories of Irish resistance have always surrounded Gallagher. When she recently learned about Robert Kennedy’s assassination and Sirhan’s conviction, she was motivated to examine the historical relationship between Palestine and Ireland and the complexities of their legacies of solidarity.

“I am honored, ecstatic and humbled to receive this award and incredible support for my first feature film,” says Gallagher. “I believe that a majority of the filmmaking process requires perseverance, resourcefulness, courage, community and believing in oneself. I hope this recognition of my own film work can encourage and inspire my students here at SU to believe in themselves and their own film projects and remember that their work is worthy and deserving of external support, excitement and encouragement as well.”

Gallagher’s work is rooted in themes of resistance, struggle, political histories and personal explorations. Her films often explore left, revolutionary histories. At other times her films serve as confrontations themselves, resistance made visual. She is interested in film as a tool to re-open and re-discuss radical histories and film as a tool of confrontation.

Gallagher’s handcrafted films and commissioned animations have screened at venues including the Museum of Modern Art, the National Gallery of Art, Sundance Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival and the Smithsonian Institution. Recent commissioned animations have screened on Netflix and PBS.

She has presented solo programs of her work at institutions including SFMOMA, Close-Up Cinema London, Balkanima, Visual Studies Workshop, Aurora Picture Show and Wexner Center for the Arts, among others. She is the 2022 recipient of the Helen Hill Award from New York University’s Orphan Film Symposium. Her latest film, “We Had Each Other,” about the solidarity of Irish Republican POW women, won the Research Award at the 2022 Athens International Film and Video Festival.

Meri Page

Page joined School of Design faculty in fall 2019. She has more than 20 years of professional experience working in the design industry, where she created work for regional, national and international clients. Her research interests include artists books/publication design, typography, archives and design history. Her work has been shown at the at the Vienna Art Book Fair, Tropic Bound Art Book Fair, Boston Art Book Fair and the Southern Utah Museum of Art.

“I enjoy the dynamic nature of teaching, as each day presents a wealth of unique experiences and a continuous journey of intellectual growth fostered by engaging discussions about design,” Page tells GDUSA. “Amid the prevailing uncertainty in our present world, collaborating with my students and witnessing their enthusiasm and discoveries on their journey as designers instills a sense of optimism for the future.”

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David Tarleton (left) and Adria Dawn

Two film faculty members in the (VPA) have received an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Achievement for Children/Youth/Teen from the of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

, professor of film and chair of VPA’s Department of Film and Media Arts, and , an actor and instructor in the film and media arts and drama departments, were nominated for “Identity,” one of eight short films in the “” series aimed at middle- and high school-aged youth. Each film focuses on a different social issue, such as cyberbullying, depression and school shootings. “Identity” is LGBTQ+ themed, focusing on gender identity, pronouns and chosen family.

“Identity” was produced by , a filmmaking partnership between Tarleton and Dawn’s multimedia production company (TDP) and The Performer’s School in Highwood, Illinois. Tarleton and Dawn served as co-directors as well as co-producers.

Since founding TDP in 2004, Tarleton and Dawn have worked on numerous projects together in different media and are most known for their films for social change. Recently, they’ve won three Telly Awards: for their award-winning Black Lives Matter film “Karen,” for their alcohol use disorder film “Gray Area,” and one for “Identity.”

The Chicago/Midwest Emmy Awards will be presented on Saturday, Nov. 11.

The College of Visual and Performing Arts is pleased to welcome 16 new faculty members for the 2023-24 academic year. Top row, left to right: Gregg Barron, Harry Castle, Richard Dent IV, Rachel Dubrofsky, Jason Eppink. Middle row: Tamika Galanis, Alex Jainchill, SeWoong Kim, Kira Marshall-McKelvey, Sandy Siquier. Bottom row: Christina Sisson, Hannah Tabrizi, David Tarleton, Guinevere Turner, Ekaterina Vanovskaya, and Andrew Zhou.

• , assistant teaching professor of music industry in the Setnor School of Music, is a seasoned music licensing executive with over 25 years’ of experience at some of the world’s most prestigious music companies. Most recently, Barron led the licensing teams of Touchtunes and PlayNetwork, working with labels, publishers, PROs and CMOs around the globe.
• is an assistant teaching professor of musical theater in the Department of Drama. He works at the intersection of contemporary classical, pop, jazz and musical theater genres. He is particularly drawn to musical storytelling, and as an LGBTQ+ creative he is especially interested in telling stories that center queer and marginalized narratives.
• is a visiting assistant teaching professor of acting in the Department of Drama. He has a background in movement/Alexander Technique; commedia dell’arte/clown; and mask history, design and construction. He has built customized masks for various artists in the United States.
• is a professor and the new chair of the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies. Her research — rooted in a critical/cultural studies tradition and attuned to popular culture (reality TV, television, social media, film, selfies, music videos news) — emphasizes issues of race and gender with a focus on surveillance, whiteness and authenticity. A few of the topics she has written about are Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, Kim Kardashian, MeToo, “The Bachelor,” Karens and “The Hunger Games.”
• , visiting assistant teaching professor of computer art and animation in the Department of Film and Media Arts, creates projects that emphasize participation, mischief, surprise, wonder, generosity, transgression, free culture and anti-consumerism; they are frequently staged in public spaces and online as street art, urban interventions and playful online services and hoaxes, often for non-consenting audiences.
• , assistant professor of film in the Department of Film and Media Arts, is a documentarian and multimedia visual artist. A Bahamian native, her work examines the complexities of living in a place shrouded in tourism’s ideal during the age of climate concerns.
• is an assistant teaching professor of theater design and technology (lighting design) in the Department of Drama. He has created lighting environments for theater (off Broadway and regional), opera and other live events. His industrial/commercial work has included work for IMCD and Rob Ross Designs.
• is an assistant professor of environmental and interior design in the School of Design. He has published peer-reviewed articles in such journals as Science of The Total Environment, Landscape and Urban Planning, Open House International, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews and Atmosphere.
• is an assistant teaching professor in the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies. Her research focuses on digital feminism, specifically feminist issues on YouTube and other new media. She has presented her research at conferences of the National Communication Association and Society for Cinema and Media Studies.
• , assistant teaching professor of film in the Department of Film and Media Arts, is an actor and creative writer who has worked in a broad range of film, television, theater and radio productions in the United States and Latin America. She has led numerous film productions that have been recognized at more than 40 major international film festivals.
• , assistant teaching professor of music education in the Setnor School of Music and School of Education, has teaching experiences that include middle and high school band, middle school steel pan, K-12 general music and K-5 general education classes. Her research interests center around diversity, equity and inclusion, with a focus on meeting the diverse needs of all students in the music classroom.
• is an assistant teaching professor in the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies whose research explores the intersections of race, gender and posthumanism using critical rhetorical methods. They have presented papers at conferences of the National Communication Association, Rhetoric Society of America and Southern States Communication Association.
• , professor of film, is the new chair of the Department of Film and Media Arts. As an award-winning producer, director and editor, Tarleton has created programs for Sony Pictures, the Muppets, Apple TV+, Syfy, Walt Disney Pictures, 3Net, Fox, Comedy Central, Disney Channel, Tokyopop, Mattel, Universal, Warner Brothers, Baby Einstein, Showtime, Learn360, Random Media and more. He also co-founded the award-winning production company Tarleton/Dawn Productions, which has produced over 20 films, numerous plays, a streaming series and boasts an education division.
• , visiting assistant teaching professor of film in the Department of Film and Media Arts, is a writer, director and actor. She teamed up with director Mary Harron to write the films “American Psycho,” “The Notorious Bettie Page” and “Charlie Says.” She has written and directed seven short films, two of which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.
• , an assistant teaching professor of studio arts (painting) in the School of Art, has exhibited nationally including New York City, Philadelphia and Chicago. She has held a number of residencies, most recently at HARP Horse and Art Research Program in Hungary, Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts in Nebraska and Artist in the Marketplace Program at the Bronx Museum of the Arts in New York.
• , assistant teaching professor of music composition and theory in the Setnor School of Music, composes and writes on sundry topics intersecting the musical, social and literary. He is a fierce proponent of recovering and performing historically erased works, while his performances make the most complex contemporary scores accessible to audiences.

What’s the secret to designing an award winning dress? Inspiration, innovation and talent. The 2023 Fashion Without Limits student design competition winner, ���ϲ����� student Nina Chen, found inspiration for her winning design, the “Tulip Dress,” in nature’s bountiful curves.

Supermodel Emme, the Division 1 college athlete who put “athletic curvy” on the map and rose to fame in the mid-1990s as the world’s first plus-size Supermodel, is once again shedding light on size inclusivity in the fashion industry. Teaming up with her alma mater and online plus-size retailer (OSP), the nationally recognized advocate for body positivity, health and wellness is promoting fashion inclusivity in the classroom with the 8th annual (FWL) design competition.

, a graduate of the College of Visual and Performing Arts’ Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies, enlisted the help of fellow advocate and veteran plus-size fashion designer Zahir Babvani, head of design and style for OneStopPlus, to inspire a new generation of up-and-coming fashion designers to put their talents to work for the silent majority—the estimated 70 percent of American women who wear sizes 12 and up. As head designer at OSP, responsible for the company’s growing roster of popular plus-size brands, including Woman Within, Jessica London, June+Vie, Roaman’s, Catherines and Eloquii, Babvani held a rousing virtual masterclass on plus-size design and style for the University’s fashion design class of 2024. Couching the exciting world of plus-size fashion design in a real-world industry context, Babvani provided a crash course on bringing a garment to market in the growing women’s plus-sized sector in the United States. Offering essential business insights and tips for designing clothes plus-size women want to wear, Babvani challenged the group of future designers to create the next “it” style for curvy women, keeping in mind today’s inflation-weary shoppers, the heightened demand for versatility, and the customer’s need for a superhero multi-tasker piece to serve all her style needs, from casual to work to dressy.

���ϲ����� fashion design student Nina Chen (center) wowed Fashion Without Limits judges, OneStopPlus head of design and style Zahir Babvani (left) and Fashion Without Limits founder and Supermodel Emme (right), with her innovative “Tulip Dress” design. The dress will debut on OneStopPlus marketplace this fall.

More than 20 students competed for the chance to have their original designs manufactured and brought to market for fall 2023. The winning designer, Nina Chen, found inspiration for her “Tulip Dress” in nature’s bountiful curves. Chen’s modern-classic black dress, which is made of Ponte knit fabric, is tailored to flatter all body shapes. The “Tulip Dress” is slated to debut on the OneStopPlus marketplace this fall as part of an exclusive collaboration between OneStopPlus and Emme’s Fashion Without Limits groundbreaking partnership with ���ϲ�����. The winning garment will feature special hangtags giving the student designer name recognition and a taste of celebrity, while also bolstering the FWL program.

“I came into fashion so passionate about many issues in the industry, but inclusive design was not on my radar,” says Chen. “Through my journey working on the competition and now interning with OneStopPlus, I’m learning that, with the right approach and mindset, inclusive design can and should be a part of every fashion designer’s portfolio.” Chen adds that the competition has inspired her to think more about the end user of her designs. “Emerging designers tend to focus on ‘cool’ fashions that we would wear. Emme and Zahir really helped me to understand the importance of making fashion accessible to all women, and I look forward to being more inclusive with my designs throughout my career.”

���ϲ����� design student Nina Chen kicked off her summer internship with New York City-based OneStopPlus with a model photo shoot featuring her award-winning “Tulip Dress” design. This summer, Nina will help the online retailer spearhead the evolution of her innovative dress, from early CAD drawings through every stage of production to the finished product, to be launched this fall, as part of her Fashion Without Limits student design competition prize package. Chen will also receive a percentage of sales.

Supermodel Emme says that she created this competition to galvanize the design school community around the exciting career opportunities in one of the fastest-growing, yet most under-served, segments of the fashion industry. The 1985 ���ϲ����� grad, athletic Hall of Famer, and Fashion Without Limits founder says, “Learning from successful designers like Zahir Babvani shows young designers that this is a rewarding career path. ���ϲ����� is at the forefront of making inclusive design an exciting area of concentration, giving tomorrow’s designers the skills, and ability, to enact real change on the fashion landscape. We hope this program will become a template for other schools moving forward.”

For her winning design, Chen received a $500 prize from ���ϲ�����, as well as a Summer 2023 internship with Babvani and his team in the company’s New York headquarters. In addition to experiencing all the business facets of a leading pioneer in size-inclusive fashion, Chen will help spearhead the winning design’s evolution, from early CAD drawings through every stage of production to the finished product and launch. Chen will also receive a percentage of sales as part of the prize package.

“Putting your best self forward begins with dressing the part in clothes you know were made for you by a dedicated plus-size designer who understands your fit needs and your modern lifestyle,” says Babvani, who added that FWL empowers today’s design students to make a real difference in the lives of women who deserve access to beautiful, fashionable clothes to be their best selves, be it in the workplace, at home or anywhere in the world. “I selected this design because it embodies modern style for the real woman. It’s both fashionable AND wearable!”

Judging the 8th Annual Fashion Without Limits design competition at ���ϲ����� was a labor of love for OneStopPlus designer Zahir Babvani and Fashion Without Limits founder, supermodel Emme, who are on a mission to empower fashion design students to put their talents to work for curvy women.

According to Emme, curvy women are professionals, celebrities, mothers, daughters and sisters. “All women want to feel special, confident and secure in their clothes.  At Fashion Without Limits, we believe that love, happiness and success have no size limits. Our goal is to offer fashion design students an inclusive curriculum that enables them to provide women of all shapes and sizes with the apparel they want and deserve.”

“Collaborating with Emme to develop a talent pool of designers who understand how to design for the plus market opens up a world of opportunities for our students,” says ChaCha Hudson, assistant teaching professor in the fashion design program. “Even if they choose not to specialize in plus sizes, every fashion brand has the potential to expand their size range to include plus-size women, but it has to be done right. This competition exposes our students to plus-size design fundamentals, enabling them to make a difference in the lives of plus-size women wherever they choose to work.”

A scene from “Failure: A Love Story” during the 2022-23 season. (Photo by Mike Davis)

The Hollywood Reporter (THR) has ranked the College of Visual and Performing Arts’ among in its June 14 issue.

Ranked no. 22, the department was cited for its strong acting and musical theater programs, as well as the opportunities afforded by its relationship with ���ϲ����� Stage, a professional theater company, and the immersive Tepper Semester in New York City.

The department offers four bachelor of fine arts (B.F.A.) degree programs in acting, musical theater, stage management and theater design and technology, as well as a bachelor of science (B.S.) degree program in drama that features a theater management track. The department’s culture of rigorous conservatory-style training at a major research university with a direct connection to the working professionals at ���ϲ����� Stage is of great benefit to students in all of its programs, including the non-performance areas.

Drama students also benefit from the support of the department’s extensive alumni network and additional study abroad/study away opportunities in Los Angeles, London (with classes at Shakespeare’s Globe and Rose Bruford College) and Florence, Italy.

“I am deeply grateful for the work of all faculty and staff–not only here in ���ϲ�����, but at our abroad and away campuses in New York City, Los Angeles, London and Florence–for their ongoing contributions to the department’s excellence,” says Ralph Zito, professor and chair of the department. “I am excited to welcome the year ahead with their work and the work of our partners at ���ϲ����� Stage having been recognized by the profession in this way.”

(Sayler/Morris) of VPA’s were among the 171 scientists, writers, scholars and artists honored. Chosen from a rigorous application and peer review process out of almost 2,500 applicants, Sayler / Morris were appointed on the basis of prior achievement and exceptional promise.

“Like Emerson, I believe that fullness in life comes from following our calling,” says Edward Hirsch, president of the Guggenheim Foundation and 1985 Fellow in Poetry. “The new class of Fellows has followed their calling to enhance all of our lives, to provide greater human knowledge and deeper understanding. We’re lucky to look to them to bring us into the future.”

Susannah Sayler (photo courtesy of Chris Meyer/Midwest Vision Photography)

Sayler is an associate professor of art photography and interim chair of the Department of Film and Media Arts, and Morris directs the at the University and is an instructor in the department. As Sayler/Morris, they work with photography, video, writing and installation to examine our changing notions of nature, culture and ecology. Their work is often place-based and focused on historical research.

Sayler/Morris’s work has been exhibited broadly in the U.S. and internationally, including at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, the Kunsthal in Rotterdam, the North Carolina Museum of Art, the Belvedere Museum, the Museum of Capitalism and the Southeast Center for Contemporary Art. They have been awarded numerous fellowships, including the New York Artist Fellowship, the Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship, the Center for Art and Environment Research Fellowship and the Loeb Fellowship at Harvard Graduate School of Design. Their archives are collected by the Nevada Museum of Art/Reno, Center for Art and Environment.

Edward Morris (photo courtesy of Chris Meyer/Midwest Vision Photography)

In 2006, Sayler/Morris co-founded , a studio that produces visual media and artworks that deepen public understanding of climate change and other ecological issues. In 2020, they founded , a platform for connecting ecological thought and action.

Created and initially funded in 1925 by Senator Simon and Olga Guggenheim in memory of their son John Simon Guggenheim, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation has sought since its inception to “further the development of scholars and artists by assisting them to engage in research in any field of knowledge and creation in any of the arts, under the freest possible conditions.”

Since its establishment, the foundation has granted nearly $400 million in fellowships to over 18,000 individuals, among whom are more than 125 Nobel laureates, members of all the national academies, winners of the Pulitzer Prize, Fields Medal, Turing Award, Bancroft Prize, National Book Award and other internationally recognized honors.

Anwar Nasir ’06

Arts management leader Anwar Nasir ’06 will deliver the keynote address to bachelor’s and master’s degree candidates of the College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) at their on Saturday, May 13, at 7:30 p.m. in the JMA Wireless Dome.

Nasir, who earned a bachelor of science degree from VPA’s Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies, is the executive director of the (LPO) in New Orleans, where he ensures the fulfillment of the LPO’s longstanding mission to transform people and communities through music while helping to craft the next stage in the organization’s growth.

Prior to joining the LPO in July 2021, Nasir was the chief revenue and advancement officer for the Omaha Symphony, where he established the vision and strategy for relationship management and led the public relations and revenue generation teams for the organization. During his tenure, he helped the organization launch its first creative rebrand in more than a decade, retool its subscription packages to increase paid capacity, launch a centennial anniversary season, and introduce a new music director.

Nasir has been named an emerging leader in the arts and culture space by the League of American Orchestras and Arts for LA. He also serves as co-chair for the League of American Orchestras’ Equity, Diversity and Inclusion working group for staff of color and the Professional Development Committee of the International Ticketing Association and has been selected to the Tessitura Network’s inaugural Diversity, Equity, Access and Inclusion Advisory Committee. He is also the co-founder of the Black Arts Leadership Alliance, formed to support African Americans in pursuing and developing careers in arts management.

A former professional dancer, Nasir has held leadership positions with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Hollywood Bowl, Atlanta Ballet and Philadelphia Workforce Development Corporation. In 2018, he was one of 12 selected for the League of American Orchestras’ prestigious, year-long Emerging Leaders Program, which is widely considered the orchestra field’s premier program for cultivating the potential of rising professionals.

An in-demand speaker, Nasir has presented at several national and international conferences on topics as diverse as integrating technology in customer experience; inclusion, diversity, equity and access; data-backed decision-making; patron acquisition and retention; social media; and professional development/career transitions.

Nasir is a member of VPA’s Young Alumni Council and was the subject of the ���ϲ����� story “” in 2021.

Established in 2013 by Dennis Gilbert ’73 and Nancy Shapiro Gilbert ’74, Gilbert Week allows Setnor students to learn about the wide variety of career opportunities in music from ���ϲ����� alumni and other industry professionals in a culturally rich city. Previously held in New York City, the immersion was recently expanded to offer additional cities on a rotating basis, including Austin, Los Angeles and London.

“In discussions with Dennis and Nancy, we talked about expanding Gilbert Week to provide a wider range of experiences for our students,” says Milton Laufer, director of the Setnor School. “These new cities are of interest to our students and home to many successful alumni in the music business. We’re excited to partner with the Gilberts on this re-envisioning of Gilbert Week and are grateful for their continued support.”

Under the guidance of Jim Elenteny, assistant teaching professor of sound recording technology in Setnor, and Jackie Flores, VPA’s assistant director of career development, the students are attending the music conference during the day and the music festival in the evening. The conference portion includes panels, discussions and presentations on a variety of industry topics, including artist rights, touring, publishing, marketing, streaming, mental health and diversity. Small group mentoring sessions with industry professionals will also be offered.

Flores met with the Gilbert Week students prior to the trip to provide guidance on networking in a fast-paced conference environment, such as developing an “elevator pitch” to quickly showcase skills to potential employers.

Follow VPA on Instagram to see what the Gilbert Week students are up to during SXSW.

Based in the Department of Drama, the Tepper Semester offers undergraduate students in advanced levels of acting, directing, musical theater, playwriting, casting, design, dramaturgy, producing, stage management and theater management the opportunity to immerse themselves in a rigorous artistic training program in the culturally rich setting of New York City.

The program is open to ���ϲ����� drama students as well as drama students from other colleges and universities.

Students participating in the Tepper Semester program in New York City.

Taught by Tepper Semester faculty, the workshops offer a glimpse into typical topics found in the curriculum and are intended to expand the program’s existing network of affiliated students. Included are “Musical Theatre Audition” with Daisy Prince (in person and virtual), “Camera Acting Audition” with Paul Davis (virtual), “Directing” with Bixby Elliot (in-person and virtual) and “Casting” with Erica Jensen and Stephanie Klapper (virtual). In-person sessions will be held at the University’s .

Interested students must fill out the by Saturday, March 4 at noon ET. Applicants will be notified of acceptance by Friday, March 10. Members of the University community are encouraged to share this opportunity with colleagues at other institutions.

For more information, contact Casey O’Neil, Tepper Semester academic operations manager.

Self portrait of Scott McCloud ’82

McCloud’s work includes the highly influential “Understanding Comics” (1993), “Making Comics” (2006), “Zot!” (2008) and “The Sculptor” (2015) as well as other fiction and nonfiction comics spanning 30 years. He is a frequent lecturer on the power of visual communication; creator of the 24-Hour Comic movement; and, in 2021, was inducted into the Eisner Awards Hall of Fame. His art and stories are available in more than 30 languages and on the web at .

McCloud graduated with a B.F.A. in illustration from the School of Art. His visit is presented as part of the school’s Visiting Artist Lecture Series.

2023 VPA Scholars. Pictured top row, from left: Caroline Bergan, Thomas Cheng, Ronny Ditchek, Anne Fernandez, Marisa Goldberg, Ania Johnston; bottom row, from left: Shayaan Khan, Ruchatneet Printup, Alyeska Reimer, Tara Sandlin, Alexandra Santangelo, Julia Wakin

Twelve seniors in ���ϲ�����’s (VPA) have been named VPA Scholars, the college’s highest undergraduate academic honor.

The VPA Scholars program was established to recognize the achievements of the college’s top seniors. Students are selected based on academic performance, creative/scholarly work and service to the college and the community.

Traditionally, the VPA Scholars are recognized at the college’s convocation ceremony during . The 2023 VPA convocation is scheduled for Saturday, May 13, at 7:30 p.m. in the JMA Wireless Dome.

The 2023 VPA Scholars are:

• Caroline Bergan, a music education major in the Setnor School of Music and School of Education
• Thomas Cheng, a communication and rhetorical studies major in the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies
• Ronny Ditchek, a music education major in the Setnor School of Music and School of Education
• Anne Fernandez, a film major in the Department of Film and Media Arts
• Marisa Goldberg, a studio arts major in the School of Art
• Ania Johnston, a film major in the Department of Film and Media Arts
• Shayaan Khan, a film major in the Department of Film and Media Arts
• Ruchatneet Printup, a film major in the Department of Film and Media Arts
• Alyeska Reimer, a drama (theater management) major in the Department of Drama
• Tara Sandlin, a voice performance major in the Setnor School of Music
• Alexandra Santangelo, an industrial and interaction design major in the School of Design
• Julia Wakin, a communication and rhetorical studies major in the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies

The exhibition, which is free and open to the public, was organized by School of Design faculty members and . A reception will be held on Friday, Feb. 24, from 6-8 p.m.

A pair of shoes on display as part of the new exhibition, “Footwear by School of Design Alumni.”

The School of Design, housed in the , has a long history of graduates working within the footwear industry, and this exhibition showcases these talented designers’ experiences, philosophies and approaches to footwear design.

Current IID students were tasked with researching and interviewing the participating alumni to inform the creation of shoeboxes meant to reflect the personality and process of each designer.

“This exhibition is an opportunity to showcase the incredible work of these talented designers and to learn about what drives them to propel the industry forward,” says Carr, a professor and program coordinator of IID and the master’s of fine arts (MFA) in design degree program.

The new exhibition, “Footwear by School of Design Alumni,” features the work of over 20 designers representing more than 50 years of alumni from the school’s industrial and interaction design program.

Included are product examples ranging from athletic gear to designer shoes to specialized equipment for space capsule missions. The designers represent a wide network of industry from brands including Nike, New Balance, Clarks, Under Armour and others.

“The industrial design program at ���ϲ����� was formative in shaping my foundation as a professional,” says participating designer Matt Heller ’98, senior director for accessories and footwear at Peloton New York City, when reflecting on his experience at the University.

“My classmates and I were lucky to have an amazingly diverse and complementary design faculty on hand, each bringing a completely different and equally valuable perspective to the program, spanning from future technologies to material explorations to user research to sustainability.”

Seyeon Lee, an associate professor of environmental and interior design in the College of Visual and Performing Arts’ School of Design

The (AASHE) recently announced that , an associate professor of environmental and interior design in the College of Visual and Performing Arts’ School of Design, received a 2022 AASHE Sustainability Award for outstanding research in higher education sustainability.

Lee won the award with Suyeon Lee of Seoul National University for the journal article “,” which was published on Aug. 13, 2021, in the International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education. The paper aims to investigate the potential impact of internal carbon pricing on emission reduction in higher education institutions, which are major emitters of greenhouse gas emissions.

Lee conducted some of her research at ���ϲ�����, where she received two (CALS) grants in 2019 and 2020 to investigate waste generated and recycling efforts on campus. Her first study focused on the studio waste in the Nancy Cantor Warehouse, home of the School of Design. It expanded in the following year as she looked at the students’ waste/recycling behaviors in their residence hall rooms.

“Triggered by these research projects, my collaborator, who has expertise in international development and policy, and I used the data that universities across the U.S. submit—���ϲ����� included—to measure their sustainability performances and investigated how the HEIs could reduce greenhouse gas emission associated with campus waste by implementing carbon pricing,” says Lee.

AASHE bestows its prestigious awards on the institutions and individuals that help lead higher education to a sustainable future. This year, AASHE received 430+ entries that resulted in 12 winners announced across five categories. Entries were judged on overall impact, innovation, stakeholder involvement, clarity and other criteria specific to each category. AASHE held a virtual awards ceremony on Thursday, Dec. 8, to recognize and celebrate the 12 award recipients.

Lee joined the School of Design faculty in 2016. Her research interests engage community architecture with an emphasis on sustainable and affordable architectural design and planning with a special focus on housing affordability.

SCI is an organization that is dedicated to the promotion of composition, performance, understanding and dissemination of new and contemporary music. The conference is a celebration of contemporary composition, featuring the works of 40 composers from both the local region and across the country. Region II encompasses New York, New Jersey and Puerto Rico.

Composer Nilo Alcala G’09

The conference includes six concerts that are open to the public, with music spanning the solo, chamber, electronic, multimedia, choral and orchestral mediums. The concerts will be held on the ���ϲ����� campus as well as in the ���ϲ����� community in partnership with the Society for New Music and Symphoria, the orchestra of Central New York.

The concerts feature visiting performers as well as Setnor students, faculty, staff and alumni. Composer Nilo Alcala G’09 is a featured guest artist, with three of his choral works programmed on the final Nov. 6 concert. Alcala will also give a pre-concert talk.

The is as follows. Tickets are not required unless noted.

• Friday, Nov. 4, 7:30 p.m. Society for New Music, Park Central Presbyterian Church, 504 E. Fayette St., ���ϲ�����. . Music by Paul Richards, Wenbin Lyu, Sami Seif, Jiyoun Chung, Charles Peck, Paul Novak, Octavio Vazquez.
• Saturday, Nov. 5, 11 a.m. Mixed Chamber and Electronic Music, Shemin Auditorium, Shaffer Art Building. Music by Cecilia Suhr, Brittany Green, Devin Cholodenko, Manual Sosa, Neil Flory, Jamie Leigh Sampson, Filipe Leitao.
• Saturday, Nov. 5, 2:30 p.m. Mixed Chamber and Electronic Music, Setnor Auditorium, Crouse College. Music by Andrew Martin Smith, Ivette Rodriguez, Paul David Thomas, Matthew Jaskot, Andrew Walters, Natalie Draper, Mark Zanter, William Vollinger.

• Saturday, Nov. 5, 7:30 p.m. Symphoria, Oncenter Crouse Hinds Concert Theater, 421 Montgomery St., ���ϲ�����. . Music by Giacomo Rossini, Dinah Bianchi, Samuel Barber, Ralph Vaughan Williams.

• Sunday, Nov. 6, 11 a.m. Mixed Chamber and Electronic Music, Setnor Auditorium, Crouse College. Music by Paul Leary, Beth Wiemann, Robert McClure, Eric Heumann, Hubert Howe, Sam Parnin, Sierra Wojtczack, Gregory Wanamaker, Ed Martin.
• Sunday, Nov. 6, 4 p.m. Music and Message: New Choral Works, Hendricks Chapel. Music by Patrick Vu, Megan DiGeorgio, Carrie Magin, Anuj Bhutani, Michael Rickelton and guest composer Nilo Alcala. Alcala will give a pre-concert talk at 3 p.m.

Charles E. Morris III, professor in the College of Visual and Performing Arts’ Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies and affiliated professor of LGBT studies in the College of Arts and Sciences, will be honored with two prestigious scholar awards from the National Communication Association at its annual conference in November.

Morris was named a recipient of the Distinguished Scholar Award, which recognizes and rewards NCA members for a lifetime of scholarly achievement in the study of human communication. He will also receive the NCA’s Golden Anniversary Monograph Award for article of the year for “,” which he co-authored with the late Daniel C. Brouwer of Arizona State University. The article was published in the flagship Quarterly Journal of Speech 107 (May 2021).

The NCA previously recognized Morris with Golden Anniversary Monograph Awards in 2003 and 2010. His other NCA awards include the Douglas W. Ehninger Distinguished Rhetorical Scholar Award in 2021 and two divisional Distinguished Scholar Awards, one in 2020 from the organization’s Critical and Cultural Studies Division and one in 2017 from the Rhetorical and Communication Theory Division.

Morris is co-founding editor of QED: A Journal in GLBTQ Worldmaking. As one of the early scholars of queer studies in rhetoric, he has shaped the field with extraordinary boldness and engagement. His body of research in historic public address has transformed the field, both through the recovery of otherwise neglected GLBTQ rhetoric and through working to queer our understanding of rhetorical theory and criticism.

The NCA advances communication as the discipline that studies all forms, modes, media and consequences of communication through humanistic, social scientific and aesthetic inquiry. NCA serves the scholars, teachers and practitioners who are its members by enabling and supporting their professional interests in research and teaching.

Empty Bowls is organized by the School of Art, Clayscapes Pottery and the IFC. The bowls were created by ceramics students, faculty, and alumni in the —including Professor Emeritus David MacDonald—as well as local potters.

The IFC is a grassroots organization and a valuable resource in the extensive emergency food network serving the City of ���ϲ����� and Onondaga County. It currently serves approximately 30-40 small- and under-resourced pantries and senior housing, as well as crisis response providers such as case managers, social workers and educators.

The event is open to the public. Free parking is available in the Warehouse . For more information, contact Professor Errol Willett at eswillet@syr.edu.

New full-time faculty in the College of Visual and Performing Arts are (from left) Chanee Choi, Scott Cuellar, Carlton Daniel Jr., Danyon Davis, Daisy Long, Yves Michel.

The College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) welcomed six new full-time faculty members in August.

is a visiting assistant professor of computer art and animation in the Department of Film and Media Arts. Choi is a transdisciplinary artist. Her ritualistic craft-based art practice transcends the conservative and isolationist roots of traditional East Asian craftwork by focusing on a celebration of feminist theory and modern tech. Within this hybrid genre, she produces both embodied and virtual immersive experiences exploring the effect of immigration on issues of identity, as well as the synesthetic processes of corporeal-cognitive space.

is an assistant professor of applied music and performance (piano) in the Rose, Jules R. and Stanford S. Setnor School of Music. He has given solo recitals at major venues around the world, including Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Vienna’s Konzerthaus, the Newport Music Festival, the Polytheatre Chongqing and the Shenyang Conservatory of Music in the People’s Republic of China. He has appeared as a soloist with the San Antonio Symphony, the Louisiana Philharmonic, the Rochester Symphony Orchestra, the Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra, the Oberlin Orchestra, the Lima Symphony Orchestra and several others.

is a visiting assistant teaching professor of film in the Department of Film and Media Arts. In Fall 2022 he will teach in Los Angeles as part of VPA’s Los Angeles Semester program, and in Spring 2023 he will teach on the University’s campus in ���ϲ�����. Navigating sexuality, horror and queer romance, Daniel’s storytelling is grounded in the mundane and extraordinary experiences of Black Americans. He is currently developing a feature-length version of his short film “Homegoing,” which was selected for the Outfest Screenwriting Lab (2020), recognized as a finalist at Tribeca’s Untold Stories (2021) and made it to the final round of consideration for the Sundance Development Track (2022).

is a visiting assistant teaching professor of acting in the Department of Drama. He has performed in classical, contemporary and experimental plays throughout the U.S. and in Europe. A former associate with Bill T. Jones and with SITI Company, Davis has also performed, taught and directed extensively with the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis and enjoyed a history of collaboration with the recently disbanded theater research teams of the Workcenter of Jerzy Grotowski and Thomas Richards in Pontadera, Italy.

is a visiting assistant teaching professor of theater design and technology in the Department of Drama. She is a lighting designer for theater, opera, concert and dance and is the lighting director for Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana. Her New York credits include the Shed, Keen Company, BAM, Atlantic, the Barrow Group Primary Stages, Abingdon Theater Company, Mason Holdings, HERE Arts Center, LaMaMa, New York University, AMERINDA, TADA! Youth Theater (National Youth Arts Award for Outstanding Lighting for “The Perfect Monster”) and the Manhattan School of Music.

is a professor of practice of industrial and interaction design in the School of Design. Prior to joining ���ϲ�����, Michel established his design practice, Studio Yami Creative, expanding beyond industrial design with projects for Cirque du Soleil and TV5, a Québec-based broadcaster. He has worked as an industrial designer for a wide range of companies and design studios in the United States and Canada, including CCM Hockey, Bombardier Recreational Products, Lime Design, Reebok, Adidas, MO Workshop and Safety 1st.

Dean Michael S. Tick

Mentors participate in a 13-week series of online sessions that focus on supporting new deans and nurturing prospective future deans. The sessions integrate case studies and theories of values-based leadership for leading arts organizations during these challenging times. Mentors serve as session leaders and offer one-on-one structured conversations, allowing participants to explore topics ranging from personal mission statements and leadership assessment to diversity and inclusion, planning, resource acquisition and management, personnel matters, governance dynamics and career planning.

“The Leadership Development Workshop is the only leadership program in the country fully dedicated to arts and design professionals in higher education,” notes Tick, who has participated since the workshop’s inception three years ago and recently served two terms on ICFAD’s board of directors. He is also a longtime participant of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education’s Leadership Institute, the precursor to the ICFAD program.

ICFAD is a multinational alliance of executive academic visual and performing arts, design and media administrators representing institutions of higher education. Beyond being the provider of professional development, ICFAD facilitates forums for the exchange of ideas, information and opportunities for presidents, provosts, deans, associate deans, assistant deans, directors, chairs and fundraising professionals in the arts and design.

Tick became dean of VPA in June 2016 after serving six years as dean of the College of Fine Arts at the University of Kentucky and 11 years as chair of the Department of Theatre at Louisiana State University. Under his leadership, VPA established the Office of Academic and Career Advising to support expanded services for students, including additional professional academic advisors and career coaches. He assisted in developing the Department of Creative Arts Therapy, which offers a master of science degree in art therapy. In 2021, he expanded VPA’s footprint in Los Angeles by hiring the college’s founding visual and performing arts program director. He also oversaw the creation of VPA’s first facilities master plan and worked with the Office of Advancement and External Affairs to close one the of largest gifts in the University’s history.

Lorrie Vogel

Vogel, who earned a bachelor of industrial design degree from VPA’s School of Design, is the founder of , an innovation consultancy that accelerates innovation by using the power of design thinking. She provides innovation consulting services to such large corporations as Google and to small technology start-ups.

Prior to founding ImagineNOW, Vogel enjoyed a 21-year career at Nike, with her last role in 2017 as the vice president of Nike’s Material Science and Innovation, where she incorporated emerging science and technology into materials, creating game-changing performance innovations for athletes. Her passion for design, innovation and sustainability made her a recognized global leader in bringing innovation to all facets of Nike’s products as well as shaping the future of the apparel and footwear industry.

Vogel has received several honors throughout her career. In 2011 she was named by the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry as one of the top 12 innovators, holding over 20 utility patents. She was the co-creator of GreenXchange, which debuted at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos in 2010, and she led the regional WEF discussion on sustainable consumption in India. In 2007, she was named to Fast Company’s “Fast 50,” the magazine’s annual compilation of innovative companies and the “incubators of genius.” Her sustainable design work has been recognized in several publications: “Strategies for Sustainable Design” (Adam Worbach), “Green to Gold” (Dan Estby) and as an MIT case study.

Vogel continues to be a frequent presenter at universities and is a celebrated keynote speaker for such symposiums as PopTech, Back End Innovation and Design Management Institute’s annual conference.

Master of fine arts (M.F.A.) candidates in the College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) are presenting the thesis exhibition “Steady/Retcon” over two weekends in May at the ���ϲ����� Governors Island House, 407A Colonels Row, Governors Island, New York City.

Curated by Laura Dvorkin ’06, “Steady/Retcon” features the work of 18 M.F.A. candidates from VPA’s School of Art (studio arts and illustration programs), School of Design and Department of Film and Media Arts. A reception will be held on Saturday, May 7, from 3-6 p.m.

Traditionally a literary and cinematic technique, “retcon” is the abbreviation of “retroactive continuity” and refers to a new piece of information introduced to a story that alters the interpretation of a previously established narrative. “Retcon” is not just employed in a fictional context, read in a book or viewed on a screen but experienced in the world around us. In the current climate, we are absorbing new information constantly (like it or not!), and it is challenging the way we see everything—day to day, hour to hour. Our internal database is developing at record speed. What was recognized as commonplace merely a year ago is being reexamined, and at times, by the entire world in unison.

The artists in this exhibition are evaluating and reframing their personal histories, traditional standards of art-making and history as a whole. While in everyday life, the constant introduction of so-called “facts” and opinions appear erratic; the investigations held within the artworks in the exhibition are much more intentional, slower-paced, steady. They are careful and curious assessments removed from the web of media and into meticulously presented ideas.

About the Curator
Laura Dvorkin ’06 is the co-curator of “The Bunker Artspace: Collection of Beth Rudin DeWoody” in West Palm Beach, Florida. She has worked with the collection since 2008, managing large presentations of the collection at institutions and the exhibitions that DeWoody curates. Dvorkin’s recent exhibitions include “In the Absence of Light: Gesture, Humor and Resistance in The Black Aesthetic” at the Rebuild Foundation, Chicago, and “A Very Anxious Feeling: Voices of Unrest in the American Experience” at the Taubman Museum of Art in Roanoke, Virginia.

Dvorkin is the associate art consultant for the Eventi Hotel, New York; co-curator of 53 West 53, the Residential MoMA Expansion Tower, New York; and consults on acquisitions for private clients. Dvorkin lives and works between New York City and West Palm Beach.

Artist Bios

Patrick Boehmcke is a writer, filmmaker and visual artist. Using video as his primary tool, his work spans a variety of forms and genres, including poetry, documentary, comedic skits and sci-fi/horror narratives. His work largely focuses on the alienation, oddity and yearning of suburban American living.  @xxbottomless_pitxx Vimeo: Patrick Boehmcke

Aaron Burleson is a photographer born in Hartford, Connecticut, and raised in Glastonbury, Connecticut. He received a bachelor of fine arts in photography with an art history minor from Hartford Art School and is currently a master of fine arts candidate and adjunct instructor at ���ϲ�����. @aaron.burleson

Kevin Frazier is an artist from Chicago who is currently based in Brooklyn, New York. He received a B.F.A. from the University of Missouri and an M.F.A. in studio art from ���ϲ�����. If not in the studio you can find him hanging around the climbing gym or skatepark. @lazerbeams_unlimited

Manya Gadhok is a documentary and narrative filmmaker who is dedicated toward telling stories that find its roots in the experiences shared with and around her family. Her work explores the themes of gender discrimination and class divide prevalent in one’s society.  She aims to create films not just for entertainment but for a better change in the society at large. @manyagadhok, @instamanyagadhok.

Sierra Haynes was born in ���ϲ�����, New York. In 2015 she received a B.F.A. in photography from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore. Her work deals with ideas of family, memory and childhood, by way of observing her surroundings to realize a deeper understanding. ������������������󲹲�Ա��

Jana Herman is an artist working with image and text originally from Massachusetts. Her practice considers memory, forgetting and the evolution of understanding through time. She has assisted artists and educators across media and graduated from Oberlin College in 2015. �����Ჹ�Բ�����������

Douglas Johnson is curious about painting, digital space, world-building, video games and always wants to see beautiful things if he can find them. He is originally from New England and grew up in the Carolinas. From a young age, he was interested in drawing, painting, games and music. He now works at the intersection of painting and digital technology.  @komodo_baggins

TamaraQuiet Storm~Jordan is an Indigenous visual, recording artist; author; and illustrator from Boston. She uses video and sound to document moments in time and as her voice to share her narrative. Her work is embodied in breaking down the stereotypes of what it means to be Indigenous in the 21st century and decolonization.

Mike Kalish  spent his childhood outside Albany, New York. He discovered an interest in making sculpture during his first semester of college. An intervening lifetime returned Kalish to upstate New York and to the organized pursuit of his art. A student of affordances, our sensitivities still confound him. @kalishmichael

Alex Kulick is an interdisciplinary artist working with artificial intelligence, machine learning, video projection, printmaking and installation. Using her roots in the South as thematic influence, and through the use of “deepfakes,” AI-generated moving image and sculptural installation, she explores how interpersonal, domestic and public space affect the individual. @kulickarts

Xuan Liu is an interdisciplinary artist. She works conceptually through social engagement actions and performances, which offer places for her to examine strategies of dealing with real-life struggles. Her works have been exhibited internationally in New York, Paris, Hong Kong, Shanghai, etc. ���������ܳ�ܲ���1895

Yanyi Liu was born and raised in Chongqing, China, a place where almost all food is spicy. Her work has a clear personal style, and each character in her illustrations has their own personality. Recently her work has been selected in Communication Arts, AI-AP Motion Art Awards, 3×3 Illustration Annual, World Illustration Awards, etc. �������ǴǴDZ������

Nadiya Nacorda is an artist working with photography and video. Her work explores the nuances and entanglements of inheritance(s) while considering themes of magic, affection, identity and mothering along with Blasian feminine interiority/subjectivity. She often collaborates with the women in her family, drawing inspiration from their relationships and shared history. ���������徱�ⲹ�������ǰ��岹

Valeria Chikaodile Oha was born to Nigerian parents who made sure she was exposed to their culture throughout her childhood. Currently she is working with mixed media to showcase the struggles of being a Black woman in America. Her current body of work focuses on exploring the idea that society both demonizes and fetishes the Black body. @themelantedfemme_valeria

Shuoran Zhou makes wearable objects using mainly glass beads to address common stereotypes toward women’s social roles and aims at advocating women’s autonomy. Her work has been exhibited internationally in Spain, China and the United States, as well as in various online exhibitions. @shuoranzhou

Zhu Zhu grew up in a family with artistic tradition, so art looked appealing to her when she was a child. She decided to choose art as her undergraduate study major as well as her life career. In 2018 she came to the U.S. and began to learn computer art. During this time, she started to try new ways to show her concept in her work. She makes experimental animation and some sculptures in her M.F.A. studies.  ����������ܲ�����ܲ�������

Leah Bella Zinder is an artist passionate about historical crafts, including lace-making and metalsmithing. She is currently pursuing an M.F.A. in studio arts at ���ϲ����� and received a B.F.A. in metals from the University of Illinois. She is also involved in the local Jewish community, where she teaches young children. @LeahBella.Z

Michael Christopher Zuhorski received a B.F.A. in photography from the College for Creative Studies in Detroit. His practice is concerned with gradual change, sustained attention and the fragile relation between seeing and knowing. �����������󲹱������ܳ�ǰ����쾱

“Wild Hunt” watercolor print by Amelia Leonards (Ameluria) | Collection of Molly Wight

A new exhibition at the explores the role that the online marketplace Etsy plays (or will play) in the art world through what is considered “fine art.”

“Caveat Emptor: Etsy in the Art World” aims to present the historical prevalence and popularity of mass-produced objects, as well as how online platforms such as Etsy offer a departure from traditional work made for the masses.

Curated by Molly Wight G’22, a museum studies graduate student in the University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA), the exhibition is the culmination of independent study and research that showcases several artists, including Andy Warhol, Winslow Homer, Japanese woodblock prints and selections from the curator’s personal collection.

“Isshi Kaido-maru,” a woodblock print by Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III), 1786-1864 | Collection of the British Museum

The exhibition will be on view at the Sue and Leon Genet Gallery, located on the first floor of the Nancy Cantor Warehouse at 350 W. Fayette St., ���ϲ�����, through April 3. A reception will be held Monday, April 11, from 5 to 7 p.m. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, noon to 5 p.m. or by appointment.

“Caveat Emptor” examines not only how artists who market their artwork on Etsy interact with the art world, but also the precedent for mass-produced art and how Etsy art shares similarities but also has differences from types of art like ukiyo-e prints and Alphonse Mucha’s Art Nouveau posters. Artwork that is marketed on Etsy is contemporary art in that it is created by living artists, but it is very different from the kind of contemporary art that most museums collect.

Based in VPA’s School of Design at the Nancy Cantor Warehouse, the Sue and Leon Genet Gallery is a student-managed space hosting exhibitions from the school’s students, faculty and alumni. Programming seeks to engage the University and downtown ���ϲ����� community with exhibitions inspired by and related to the field of design.

In September 2018, world-renowned futurist and thinker , a graduate of the College of Arts and Sciences, visited campus to deliver the keynote speech at the College of Visual and Performing Arts’ fall convocation. As part of his visit, he spent time with students in the School of Design and met , a professor of design who was serving as the school’s director at the time.

As the two discussed design, higher education and the future, they realized they held a common vision. Houle, who was writing a series of books about the 2020s, which he describes as “the most disruptive decade in history,” invited Fathers to co-author a new volume focused on design. The resulting book, “” (Houle and Associates, 2021), emphasizes the need for designers to use new ways of design thinking to solve critical issues that face our planet, notably climate change.

“The message of the whole book is that designers individually and as a profession need to wake up and become part of the solution to the climate crisis—and all of the other issues that face us in the next decade—rather than being part of the problem as we have since the birth of the profession as an enabling function of capitalist manufacturing and consumption,” says Fathers.

James Fathers

Fathers, who is on the faculty of both the School of Design’s undergraduate and graduate , has incorporated the ideas in the book into one of his classes. “I am teaching an M.F.A. course this spring that is specifically based on the book and the 17 principles of Planetary Systemic Design that it sets out,” he says, referring to new guidelines for designers that he and Houle outline in the book. “The idea of the class is to present design ideas that serve as stories of hope that although great change is needed, we as a society can find ways to thrive and prosper rather than just survive the increasing pressures that face us as occupants of this planet.”

A chapter in “The Golden Age of Design and Redesign” called “Doom and Bloom” focuses on the visions and perspectives of young activists and designers who will shoulder the work of the redesign. It was written by four contributors who are alumni of ���ϲ����� or SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry: Emma Gutierrez ’19, mycologist and community educator at Hawk Meadow Farms; Katrina Little ’20, biomimicry product designer and environmental activist; Tay Lotte ’21, support team lead and regenerative designer at nRhythm; and Julie Regina ’09, experience design director at Healthy Minds Innovations. Little, who majored in industrial and interaction design and met Houle during his 2018 visit, served as project lead for the chapter.

“As the book progressed, I realized that because of the fact that the brunt of the impact of the climate crisis will be born by generations younger than both of the authors, we needed to invite their voice into the writing process,” says Fathers.

Both authors were invited to present the core messages of the book as keynote speakers at the Sarasota Institute on Feb. 27 alongside Larry Thompson, the president of Ringling College of Art + Design.

For more information about the book, visit Houle’s .

The 2022 VPA Scholars. Top row, left to right: Alexandra Anzalone, Alana Barker, Natalie DeVincentiis, Anita Frasier, Cameron Gray, Connor Johnson. Bottom row, left to right: Hal Meyer, Allison Pasco, Amanda Quon, Caleb Sheedy, Margaret Strehle, Julie Swei.

Twelve seniors in the (VPA) have been named VPA Scholars, the college’s highest undergraduate academic honor.

The VPA Scholars program was established to recognize the achievements of the college’s top seniors. Students are selected based on academic performance, creative/scholarly work and service to the college and the community.

Traditionally, the VPA Scholars are recognized at the college’s convocation ceremony during . The 2022 VPA convocation is scheduled for Saturday, May 14, at 7:30 p.m. in the Stadium.

The 2022 VPA Scholars are:

• Alexandra Anzalone, an environmental and interior design major in the School of Design
• Alana Barker, a stage management major in the Department of Drama
• Natalie DeVincentiis, a film major in the Department of Film and Media Arts
• Anita Frasier, a music industry major in the Rose, Jules R. and Stanford S. Setnor School of Music
• Cameron Gray, a film major in the Department of Film and Media Arts
• Connor Johnson, an acting major in the Department of Drama
• Hal Meyer, a music education major in the Setnor School of Music and School of Education
• Allison Pasco, a music education major in the Setnor School of Music and School of Education
• Amanda Quon, a communications design major in the School of Design
• Caleb Sheedy, an acting major in the Department of Drama
• Margaret Strehle, a music education major in the Setnor School of Music and School of Education
• Julie Swei, a computer art and animation major in the Department of Film and Media Arts

Jane Ciminera, Liran Federmann, Brie Flewelling, Fiona Gaffney, Bridget Gismondi, Sophie Hautula, Whitney Hodge, Maddie Ligenza, Henry Rose, Bridget O’Sullivan, Sloane Sexton and Kayleigh Weil were recognized for , created in their senior year as part of the CMD 450 Communication Design Problems course.

“All works were concepted, art directed, copywritten and designed by the students,” notes Rachel Aubrey, assistant teaching professor of CMD.

“Denali Voices” by Brie Flewelling

GDUSA, an information source for graphic design professionals, selected approximately 700 projects from more than 11,000 entries for the awards showcase.

Communications designers translate ideas and information through a variety of media. The School of Design’s leads to a bachelor of fine arts degree. Classes are modeled on professional practice, and students develop the ability to solve real-world problems along with a variety of skills in graphic media.

Keane Southard

Keane Southard, a Ph.D. candidate in composition at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, has been announced as winner of the 2021 Gregg Smith Choral Composition Contest in the College of Visual and Performing Arts’ Rose, Jules R. and Stanford S. Setnor School of Music. The award, which is named for renowned composer and choral conductor Gregg Smith, is given biennially to a composer between the ages of 21 and 35 who has written and submitted a musical composition for a Setnor School choral ensemble.

Southard won for his work “The Wayfaring Stranger,” which was selected by a committee of Setnor faculty from numerous compelling entries. Southard’s work will be premiered by Crouse Chorale, the Setnor School’s gender-inclusive treble ensemble of students from varied majors and schools/colleges. The premiere will be part of their performance on Wednesday, April 27, at 8 p.m. in the Rose and Jules R. Setnor Auditorium, Crouse College. Southard will work with the choir on the piece and will be present for the world premiere.

“Crouse Chorale is excited to work with Southard and bring ‘The Wayfaring Stranger’ to life,” says Setnor Professor Wendy Moy, who conducts the ensemble. “It is an honor to be the first to interpret a new piece and we are grateful to have this contest in honor of Gregg Smith.”

Southard (b. 1987) is a composer and pianist who believes deeply in the power of music to change how people think, feel and act and that it can be a catalyst for positive change in the world. He has been a recipient of many awards, including winner of the 2nd Michal Kleofas Oginski International Symphony Orchestra Contest, the Howard Hanson and Belle S. Gitelman Awards from the Eastman School of Music, the Yale Glee Club’s Emerging Composers Competition, the Capital Hearings Young Composers Competition, the Cecil Effinger Composition Award and George Lynn Prize from the University of Colorado-Boulder, the Longfellow Chorus International Composers Cantata Competition, the Charles B. Olson Young Composer Award and the Ars Nova Singers Colorado Composers Competition. He has also been awarded residencies at Copland House, Playa and the Kimmel-Harding-Nelson Center.

The Setnor School established the Gregg Smith National Choral Composition Contest and the Gregg Smith Graduate Choral Conducting Scholarship in 2008 with the support of an anonymous donor. Smith had a 30-year relationship with ���ϲ�����; the Gregg Smith Singers and Smith collaborated with University choirs and faculty members on operas, concerts and numerous premieres at the University.

The Setnor School hosts the Gregg Smith National Choral Composition Contest as part of its mission to offer opportunities for the highest level of professional musical development within the context of a broad, humanistic education; to encourage and facilitate the broadest possible range of creative options for students and faculty, recognizing that the Western classical tradition continues to grow and expand, and that it is only one in a world of myriad others; to uphold the school’s role and responsibilities as a citizen of the community, and of the larger culture, by serving the community through outreach and education and by creating and maintaining an inclusive environment in which all can pursue musical interests and develop their gifts; and to offer substantive musical opportunities for non-music majors from all corners of the University.

Tiago Cruz

Cruz is working with Kathleen Roland-Silverstein, associate professor of applied music and performance (voice), assisting and collaborating with voice pedagogy graduate students, conducting research and helping design an up-to-date voice laboratory for the Setnor School. A small equipment grant from ���ϲ�����’s Office of Research has assisted with laboratory, which will aid in a proposed longitudinal study of vocal health in Setnor voice students.

“Tiago has been invaluable in preparing a longitudinal study, set up of the new voice-assessment tools and helping to train our students in their use,” says Roland-Silverstein.

“I’m having a great experience, which is contributing to my learning and to my career,” says Cruz. “The opportunity to assist in the creation and development of a voice lab is unique.”

Cruz is a speech language pathologist finishing his doctorate in an exciting and fast evolving field. His expertise as a scholar and performer ranges throughout the fields of sonology, voice pedagogy, performance and production. He began his studies as a classical acoustic guitarist in 1995 and has continued his studies as a singer and performer alongside his voice science studies.

“His contribution as a scholar and educator to Setnor this year has already been a tremendous gift to students and faculty,” notes Roland-Silverstein.

Anna Proulx

The College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) has appointed as the college’s founding program director for the , the University’s immersive professional development program that provides students with the opportunity to work as interns while taking entertainment industry-related academic courses taught by Los Angeles-based artists and media professionals.

In this new position, Proulx will focus on the VPA student experience at SULA. She will work with VPA leadership and faculty to design and deliver immersive academic programs and internship opportunities for VPA students in Los Angeles, cultivate new and existing relationships for VPA, hire and supervise a diverse instructional faculty from a variety of disciplines and engage in student recruitment and orientation activities. She will be based at the University’s regional office in Sherman Oaks, California, and will also work closely with the SULA staff.

“Anna will play an invaluable role not only as an advocate for our students in Los Angeles but as a liaison with our faculty and staff here in ���ϲ�����,” says VPA Dean Michael S. Tick. “She will ensure that our courses, internships and other opportunities will benefit students from across the college’s disciplines and prepare them for success after graduation.”

Proulx has an extensive background in both arts and higher education management. Previously she served as director of admissions for the American Film Institute Conservatory in Los Angeles, a top-ranked master’s film program, and at Loyola Marymount University’s School of Film and Television. She also managed the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program, creatively supporting and working with international and domestic documentary filmmakers. She holds a master of arts degree in counseling education: clinical mental health from Western Michigan University and a bachelor of science degree in anthropology from Loyola University Chicago.

Proulx’s passion lies in finding, developing and supporting artists through education. “I look forward to working with each individual student to help further expose possible career opportunities in the visual and performing arts, develop the skills to make it a reality and have hands-on training to launch their careers,” she says. “I can’t wait to see each student’s growth and development over the course of the semester.”

The new name was recommended by the faculty through a special faculty working group that examined the structure of the department and issued a report to VPA Dean Michael S. Tick.

“This exciting update will significantly enhance outreach to prospective students and their families, as well as to future employers, who will now have a much better understanding about the creative work done in the department,” says Ralph Lorenz, VPA’s senior associate dean of academic affairs and interim chair of the department. “The new name will allow us to build upon the growing reputation of the department.”

The Department of Film and Media Arts offers bachelor of fine arts degree programs in art photography, computer art and animation, and film, as well as master of fine arts degree programs in art photography, computer art, and film. Art video courses and study opportunities are also offered within the department, as well as minors in animation and visual effects, art photography and computer gaming. Many of the department’s disciplines have been nationally ranked, most recently film (, ) and animation ().

Through a combination of rigorous coursework, hands-on learning and study abroad opportunities, students emerge from the Department of Film and Media Arts highly skilled in their individual disciplines, ready to tackle the demands of contemporary art and commerce. A strong alumni network helps them succeed with careers in the film industry as producers, directors, screenwriters, cinematographers, animators and special effects designers; in photography with magazine, editorial, fashion and book publication; as curators in fine art galleries and contemporary art museums; and as practicing artists.

Evan Bode

Bode won for his animated film “,” which he created last spring as part of an online graduate film class taught by Kara Herold, associate professor and program coordinator. The film was selected for the Focus Features & JetBlue Student Short Film Showcase by a special jury of filmmakers, curators and critics, which reviewed projects from more than 20 graduate film schools.

“This was a zero-budget project I made by myself in my room when classes were online last semester,” says Bode. “I poured my whole heart into it, and I am so humbled and grateful to know I created something that is resonating with others.”

As one of the winning filmmakers, Bode at the 2021 Gotham Awards Ceremony in New York City on Nov. 29. He will receive a $10,000 grant and have his film shown for 12 months on JetBlue’s seatback entertainment systems under the “Gotham Selects” movie category and on Focus Features digital streaming platforms. Throughout 2022, he will also receive ongoing mentorship and workshopping opportunities from the Gotham.

“It is truly amazing that Evan made the best of his circumstances during the pandemic and created an animation in his bedroom in Colorado that landed him on a stage at the Gotham Awards in New York,” says Herold. “The film reminds me of the abstract animations from the 1920s and 30s but with a modern social justice message. The film is truly brilliant, and I’m thrilled he gets to share it with a large audience.”

In addition to creating the animation for “Thine Own Self,” Bode composed its music. His artist’s statement describes the film as representing “…a resistance to hegemonic constructions of gender, expressing a desire for collective liberation from restrictive understandings of identity.”

“As an artist, I was trying to speak through images and music as a language,” adds Bode. “There are no words in the film, and the story is fairly abstract. I’m proud that I was able to take an experimental approach and express myself in a way that others can connect with.”

In addition to the Gotham’s Focus Features & JetBlue Student Short Film Showcase, “Thine Own Self” has been an official selection at several international festivals this year, including MicroActs 8 Artist Film Screening, OutSouth Queer Film Festival, the 10th QUEER-Streifen Regensburg Film Festival, the Seattle Queer Film Festival, the ���ϲ����� International Film Festival Student Showcase and 15th FOR RAINBOW Festival of Cinema and Culture of Sexual and Gender Diversity. .

“We strive to foster a film program in VPA where each student’s unique voice can emerge,” says Herold. “Evan’s film is the perfect example of that, and we are so proud of his success.”

The Consumption Clock

The team, which included VPA students Saachi Jain ’22, a film major, and Victoria Klimek ’21, a communication and rhetorical studies major, along with former student Amelia Dodson, was part of the Spring 2021 DES 204 class taught by Jody Nyboer, assistant professor of environmental and interior design. The students submitted their project “” under the competition’s digital and technology discipline with an emphasis on the theme “Conscious Consumption.”

According to the project description, “The Consumption Clock is a lifestyle training device in the form of an ‘analog’ clock that syncs with a user’s smart device to track and display the amount of time spent out of the day using media. When installed in the common area of a user’s living space, the clock becomes a fixture of accountability in the life of the modern media consumer and encourages appreciation for the value of time.”

In addition to the silver award-winning team, two teams of ���ϲ����� students from the class were shortlisted and commended in the competition: Jessica Phillips ’22, Elle Ferreri ’22, Marcy Wolfsberg ’21 and Daniel Woohyuk Choi ’26 for “The Curve,” pop-up architectural spaces for student wellness on campus, and Isabella Uribe ’23, Noah Hollander ’21, Henry Hanlin ’21 and Ronit Feldman ’24 for the V-Fume, a device proposal for detecting off-gassing from clothing and fabrics.

For the past three years Nyboer has sponsored at least two projects from her DES 204 class to submit to the Creative Conscious competition, and this year marked a new achievement for the students. “A handful of teams have enjoyed making shortlisted status, and fewer were designated as commended projects. However, this is the first time a team has been among the winners,” she says.

is a creative community and global not-for-profit organization that believes that creative thinking and innovation can make positive change.

Peter Piening’s 1952 record album cover for “Trois Poemes Juifs/Concerto for Cello and Orchestra.”

According to exhibition curator Meri A. Page, assistant professor of communications design in the College of Visual and Performing Arts’ School of Design, “Peter Piening: Abstract Visions in Modernist Graphic Design” “will highlight Piening’s significant contributions to the field of modernist graphic design from the 1930s-60s and his role as a teacher and mentor at ���ϲ����� (1958-73). The exhibition will bring together for the first time his logo and trademark designs as well as dynamic abstract commercial work created for numerous publications and record albums.”

The exhibition will be on view at the Genet Gallery, located on the first floor of the Nancy Cantor Warehouse at 350 W. Fayette St., from Oct. 29-Dec. 19. Gallery Hours are noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday-Friday or by appointment. A public reception at the gallery will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 11.

M. Peter Piening (1908-1977) was a German American graphic designer and educator. Born in Grabow, Germany, he studied at the Bauhaus and received his doctor of philosophy degree from the University of Berlin in 1931. After graduation, Piening began working in publishing in Berlin and was among many European artists of his era who fled the Nazi occupation of Germany. He traveled to Paris and worked for Conde Nast before coming to the United States in 1934.

Peter Piening’s August 1944 Fortune magazine cover “Reconversion in Typewriters.”

In New York, Piening began working at Vogue magazine and later worked with numerous New York advertising agencies and publishing houses. He was the art editor for Life magazine in 1937, and from 1941-44 he was the art director at Fortune magazine. His editorial expertise led to freelance work for additional publications such as Architectural Record, Town & Country and Cosmopolitan. He also produced creative work for Lincoln, Ford, Shell Oil and Ballantine Beer.

In addition to his design practice, Piening was also an educator who taught at the Art Students League and New York University before being appointed professor of advertising design at ���ϲ����� in 1958. He taught at the University until his retirement in 1973.

This exhibition is supported by a ���ϲ����� College of Visual and Performing Arts Research Grant.

For more information, contact Lisa Soltren at lmsoltre@syr.edu.

About the Sue and Leon Genet Gallery

Based in the School of Design at the Nancy Cantor Warehouse, the Sue and Leon Genet Gallery is a student-managed space hosting exhibitions from the school’s students, faculty and alumni. Programing seeks to engage the University and downtown ���ϲ����� community with exhibitions inspired by, and related to, the field of design.

Louise Manfredi

, an assistant professor of industrial and interaction design in the College of Visual and Performing Arts’ School of Design, received a faculty grant from , an organization that fosters collaboration to advance innovation and entrepreneurship education.

�ձ�Գٳܰ���±����’s supports the creation or improvement of courses and programs that incorporate sustainability frameworks and principles and encourages the creation of novel sustainable designs and green technologies. Manfredi was one of 12 grant recipients chosen through a competitive national review process.

Manfredi will use the funding to develop a new minor that will facilitate in-depth learning of green design methodologies to catalyze sustainable, design-driven innovation and entrepreneurship. Multidisciplinary student teams will develop and pursue sustainable design innovations in consumer goods, services and interior environments. The minor will collaborate with Blackstone LaunchPad & Techstars at ���ϲ����� Libraries to support students who want to pursue their ideas beyond the classroom. Newly developed courses for the minor that facilitate in-depth learning of various design for sustainability methodologies for faculty and students will launch in spring 2022.

“The team and I are really looking forward to connecting with other professors on campus to establish this interdisciplinary minor,” says Manfredi, whose co-principal investigators and collaborators are fellow School of Design faculty members Don Carr and Seyeon Lee. “Building a sustainable future relies on the input from so many fields of expertise, and we want to expose our students to as many perspectives as possible. There is a wealth of expertise in environmental sustainability at ���ϲ�����.”

For more information about the new minor, contact Manfredi at lrmanfre@syr.edu or Carr at dwcarr@syr.edu.

The Ehninger Award is presented annually to honor scholars who have executed research programs in rhetorical theory, rhetorical criticism and/or public address studies. As one of the early scholars of queer studies in rhetoric, Morris has shaped the field with extraordinary boldness and engagement. His body of research in historic public address has transformed the field, both through the recovery of otherwise neglected GLBTQ rhetoric and through working to queer our understanding of rhetorical theory and criticism. With numerous peer-reviewed articles in NCA journals, many of them selected as exemplary by awards committees and editors, Morris has executed a research program with a lasting influence on the field.

“NCA’s annual awards honor communication scholars’ teaching, scholarship and service,” NCA Interim Executive Director Linda Taliaferro, CAE, says. “NCA is proud to recognize Dr. Morris’s significant contributions to the communication discipline with this award.”

Morris’s award will be presented on Nov. 20 at the NCA 107th Annual Convention in Seattle.

The NCA previously recognized Morris with two Distinguished Scholar Awards, one in 2020 from the organization’s Critical and Cultural Studies Division and one in 2017 from the Rhetorical and Communication Theory Division. Morris is also a two-time recipient (2003, 2010) of the NCA Golden Monograph Award for article of the year, and he is founding co-editor of “QED: A Journal in GLBTQ Worldmaking” published by Michigan State University Press.

The NCA advances communication as the discipline that studies all forms, modes, media and consequences of communication through humanistic, social scientific and aesthetic inquiry. NCA serves the scholars, teachers and practitioners who are its members by enabling and supporting their professional interests in research and teaching.

Top row, from left: Gabrielle Demeestère, Jim Elenteny, Alix N. Ferrer-Yulfo, Charquetta “ChaCha” Nicole Hudson, Izmir Ickbal. Bottom row, from left: Loren Loiacono, Carmen M. Martinez, Felipe Panama, Rochele Royster, Stewart Thorndike

The College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) welcomed 10 new full-time faculty members for the 2021-22 academic year.

joins the Department of Transmedia as an assistant teaching professor of film and will teach screenwriting and directing. Born and raised in Paris, Demeestère wrote and directed the feature film “Yosemite” starring James Franco and Henry Hopper, which Variety called “an impressive debut” and was released theatrically in 2016. She also wrote and directed a segment of the feature film “The Color of Time” starring Jessica Chastain and Mila Kunis. Her short film “The Last Cigarette” won the 2010 Reel 13 Competition and was broadcast on PBS. She is currently in development on “Putain!,” a half-hour comedy series with Sarah Jessica Parker’s company Pretty Matches, and writing her second feature film “Terra.”

joins the Rose, Jules R. and Stanford S. Setnor School of Music as an assistant teaching professor of sound recording technology. His research focuses on all phases of music production, including composition, performance, recording and production. As a composer and performer, he has produced music ranging from solo guitar to funk/fusion trio to Americana and rock. He has toured nationally, performing with the acoustic duo Science! and funk/fusion trio The Insinuators. As a recording engineer, he has worked in many genres, ranging from solo and chamber classical music to jazz combo and big band, rock, hip hop, folk, metal and more. He has also recorded and mixed sound for film, radio and other media and worked as a live sound engineer.

is a faculty fellow in the School of Design’s museum studies graduate program. She is a multilingual interdisciplinary researcher, museum professional and heritage consultant specializing in museology and intangible cultural heritage safeguarding and management. Her research interests include intangible cultural heritage museums; the documentation of living heritage; community involvement in cultural policies and museum work; the decolonization of museum and heritage studies; and alternative forms of museology. Among other projects, she is currently working on a paper discussing different global perspectives on the decolonization of museum and heritage studies and practices to be published in the fall of 2022.

is an assistant teaching professor of fashion design in the School of Design, where she teaches courses in fashion product development, including apparel construction, pattern making, draping and lectures focusing on entrepreneurship in fashion and design inclusivity. Her research focuses on business innovation in fashion and improving apparel fit for plus-size consumers. In 2018, Hudson opened the SEWcial Cafe, LLC, a creative coworking space for female fashion designers and crafters, encouraging entrepreneurship and innovation. She received the exceptional entrepreneur award from the Women’s Business Center at True Access Capital for providing education and resources to members of the SEWcial Cafe to assist in growing their fashion businesses in 2020.

is a multidisciplinary theater designer and an assistant professor of theater design and technology in the Department of Drama. He has designed more than 60 productions locally, regionally and internationally, at large theater spaces such as the Mark Taper Forum for Center Theater Group in Los Angeles; at premier national venues in Singapore such as the Esplanade Concert Hall and the National Gallery of Singapore; at the tiniest off-off-Broadway spaces such as Theater C at 59e59 theaters in New York City; and to bustling outdoor audiences at the annual Shakespeare productions in Connecticut with the Elm Shakespeare Company. As a designer and artist, he aims to give voice to the under- and/or misrepresented, seeks to decolonize Eurocentrism in theater and believes theater is for all.

is an assistant teaching professor of composition and theory in the Setnor School of Music. An emerging orchestral voice, she received commissions and performances from such nationally esteemed ensembles as the Detroit Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra and the American Composers Orchestra. She is a frequent collaborator of the Albany Symphony and a prolific writer of chamber and vocal music, with performances by ensembles and performers including clarinetist Anthony McGill; pianist Xak Bjerken; cellist Peter Stumpf; New Morse Code; Latitude 49; the New York Virtuosi Singers; Music from Copland House; Transit New Music Ensemble; and the JACK, FLUX, Friction, Argus and Altius String Quartets.

is an assistant professor of theater design and technology in the Department of Drama, with a focus on scenic and costume design. Prior to ���ϲ�����, she lived in New York City, where she founded and ran her own studio. Among her clients were Katy Perry (2017 Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Gala performance), Lisa Lampanelli (“Stuff’d”) and several theaters and performance spaces in the city. Her design credits include “The Wild Party” (VPA Department of Drama), “James and The Giant Peach” (Atlantic Theater) and “King Lear” (Cherry Lane Theater). Before concentrating on theater, Martinez worked as a graphic designer at both the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

is a dancer, teacher, choreographer and visual artist who joins the Department of Drama as an assistant teaching professor of musical theater, teaching ballet technique, jazz and contemporary styles. He is a soloist dancer with ���ϲ����� City Ballet (“Dracula,” “The Nutcracker,” originated the role of Spring Fairy in “Cinderella”). He shot, edited and produced ���ϲ����� City Ballet’s 2020 Digital Season, premiering five works: “The Dying Swan,” “Empire,” “Goldilocks Meets Little Red,” “Frolicsome” and “Peter and the Wolf,” as well as historical and educational capsules. Panama has danced with Ballet San Antonio; Brooklyn Ballet; and Ballet de Jalisco in Guadalajara, Mexico, and has been featured in numerous corps and soloist roles.

joins VPA’s new Department of Creative Arts Therapy as an assistant professor of art therapy. She has worked for the last 20 years integrating art therapy into the educational setting and has worked with youth, adolescents and young adults with various learning differences such as autism, traumatic brain disorders and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Using a trans-disciplinary approach, she is interested in community and school-based art therapy; race, power and policy in education; multi-sensory methods in reading and literacy; trauma-informed classrooms; environmental justice; black disability; and special education as it relates to decolonization of pedagogy and practice in institutional and public settings.

is an assistant teaching professor of film in the Department of Transmedia, where she will teach narrative filmmaking beginning in spring 2022. Thorndike is an award-winning filmmaker who tells feminist genre stories. She is currently writing a feminist slasher film that centers around women in their 60s. Her debut feature “Lyle,” a queer horror film starring Gaby Hoffmann, premiered at Outfest 2014, where Hoffmann received the Grand Jury Prize for Best Actress. “Lyle” was selected to play at Fantastic Festivals premier Queer sidebar in 2019 and continues to play at festivals. She recently released the podcast “Come On, Come Out,” a dark comedy produced by Refinery 29 and Vice that is currently being developed as a television series.

Leo Crandall (Photo by Paul Pearce)

Leo Crandall, a filmmaker, musician and instructor of film in the College of Visual and Performing Arts’ (VPA) Department of Transmedia, died unexpectedly on Saturday, May 29, in ���ϲ�����. He was 67.

Born in Detroit, Crandall earned a B.A. in English from the University of Illinois, where he graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. According to , he moved to ���ϲ����� in the 1980s and immersed himself in the region’s cultural life, working at the ���ϲ����� Symphony Orchestra, Rome Art and Community Center, Cultural Resources Council (now CNY Arts) and the Everson Museum of Art.

In addition to his work in arts administration, Crandall was an active musician and composer who planned to release his 10th album this summer. His obituary notes, “Leo played with virtually every serious musician in the ���ϲ����� area, some in public venues with formal bands like the Gonstermachers, others on front porches and in the living rooms of those with whom he forged lifelong friendships.”

Crandall also “loved collaborating with local filmmakers during the process of creating videos to accompany his own music,” according to the obituary. He received many commissions for film scores, dance productions, theater performances and accompaniment for visual arts installations, including one by friend and colleague Owen Shapiro, professor emeritus of film in the Department of Transmedia and co-founder and artistic director of the ���ϲ����� International Film Festival.

“I’ve known Leo since the days he was director of the Rome Arts Center to our collaboration on ‘Basilio the Musical,’” says Shapiro, referring to his 2020 award-winning short film that features a score by Crandall. “It has been several decades. He was a filmmaker, poet, composer, but most of all a truly great human being and a good friend. I will miss him.”

In 2007, Crandall began teaching at VPA, where he successfully combined his creative passions with teaching and was a valued colleague.

“Leo was a much-beloved professor who shared his love for experimental film, music and graphic novels with our students,” says Kara Herold, associate professor of film and coordinator of the film program. “He also frequently collaborated with students as well as former students. In the fall, the film program will plan how we can best show Leo’s film work and some of his favorite films in a screening event.”

“I had the good fortune of sitting in on Leo’s History of the Graphic Novel class when he first taught it,” says Gail Hoffman, a part-time assistant professor of transmedia. “At the time I was thinking of creating my own studio class based on short graphic novels and he was kind enough to allow me to audit it. I was amazed at how he could pull in disparate readings, novels, films and philosophy into this class, which made perfect sense and got me thinking in new directions.”

Nancy Keefe Rhodes, who is also an instructor of film in the Department of Transmedia and a longtime friend of Crandall’s, remembers how his work ethic as a musician and collaborator translated to his success as a teacher. “He would get up at 5:30 or 6 in the morning and start practicing right away,” she says. “It is so important that our students get to see an artist who holds creative work in this kind of high esteem and creates a community of artists that is generous rather than cut-throat and cynical. Young people have to see that you can live your life in this way. I think this is one of the things we do best as a film faculty, actually, and Leo was the best.”

The digital showcase is produced by department alumni Ben Holtzman and Sammy Lopez (“Be More Chill” and the upcoming “Gun & Powder”), with direction by faculty member Katherine McGerr (“Birthday Candles” at Roundabout Theatre Company) and song preparation by alumnus and faculty member David Lowenstein (“Jerome Robbins Broadway,” “Seussical”).

The virtual platform designed by alumnus Joe Tannenbaum features scenes, songs, monologues and dance numbers performed by the Class of 2021. The videos were filmed and edited by Daylight Blue Media and captured onstage in spaces shared by the department and –all under strict COVID-19 protocol.

“As a response to the pandemic and industry shutdown, it was a challenge to shift the showcase digitally, but we were determined to offer the graduating actors the opportunity to present their work to the industry,” say Holtzman and Lopez.  “Transitioning to a virtual platform allows us to create equitable exposure by expanding the number of students featured and providing access to industry members beyond New York City.”

Recently named by , the Department of Drama offers conservatory-style training in a university setting shared with a resident, professional theater (���ϲ����� Stage), presenting an unparalleled combination of teaching professionals and diverse performance and production opportunities. The department offers four conservatory-style bachelor of fine arts (B.F.A.) degree programs in acting, musical theater, stage management and theater design and technology, as well as a bachelor of science (B.S.) degree program in drama that features a theater management track.

The department is proud to have trained an impressive array of actors, writers, producers, designers, stage managers, casting directors, agents, managers and countless other professionals in the entertainment industry. The list includes such notable alumni figures as Vanessa Williams, Jessie Mueller, Aaron Sorkin, Taye Diggs, Reid Scott, Vera Farmiga, Frank Langella, Julia Murney, Will Pullen, Hannah Corneau, Matt Britten and Arielle Tepper to name a few.

For more alumni information and updates, follow Orange In The Apple & Beyond, an alumni-run organization devoted to uplifting and connecting ���ϲ����� drama graduates: @orangeintheapple.

As white women began to explore their freedom as consumers, suffragists in the United States were campaigning for the right to vote. The suffrage movement sought to ratify the 19th Amendment of the Constitution, which legally granted women this right, and did so by copying many of the same campaigning techniques used in the United Kingdom. Beginning in 1910, women in London set up storefronts, known as suffrage shops. The shops provided women a space to meet with other suffragists and to help spread educational materials that pushed the messages of the movement.

In an effort to recognize the exclusionary nature of suffrage shops, this gallery advocates for the inclusion of a wider range of narratives. The space invites visitors to have conversations surrounding the women’s movement, from its inception to the present day, and how it must change to serve evolving definitions and lived realities as to what it means to be a woman.

The  Genet Gallery is a student-managed space hosting exhibitions from the School of Design’s students, faculty, and alumni. Programing seeks to engage ���ϲ����� and the downtown ���ϲ����� community with exhibitions inspired by and related to the field of design.

The gallery is located on the first floor of the Nancy Cantor Warehouse, 350 W. Fayette St., ���ϲ�����. Gallery hours are Tuesday-Friday noon-5 p.m., or by appointment. For more information, email genetgallery@syr.edu.

Jenna Wengle ’20 won a Gold Award for her Aasav packaging design.

Jenna Wengle won a Gold Award for her “” packaging design. Silver Awards were presented to Elese Gaydos for “” (packaging design), Nila Nejad for “” (editorial design), Sarah Noll for “” (product design) and Audrey Stevens for “” (packaging design). Honorable Mentions were awarded to Abi Gaudreau for “” (editorial design), Nejad for “” (branding) and Michael Paris for “” (branding).

In addition to being available online, the work will be presented in the upcoming print and digital copy of “Graphis New Talent Annual 2021.”

publishes the world’s most prestigious annuals with award-winning work from international talents in design, advertising, art/illustration, photography and more. Graphis-award-winning students have gone on to work at top companies, including Pentagram, Apple, R/GA, Sagmeister & Walsh, the New York Times Magazine, TBWA\WORLDWIDE, Saatchi & Saatchi, Rolling Stone, Young & Rubicam, INNOCEAN USA, MRM/McCann and many others.

Communications designers translate ideas and information through a variety of media. The School of Design’s leads to a bachelor of fine arts (B.F.A.) degree. Classes are modeled on professional practice, and students develop the ability to solve real-world problems along with a variety of skills in graphic media.

A still from Thornton Wilder’s “The Matchmaker,” a recent production the department filmed and offered as video on demand (March 4-9).

According to OnStage Blog’s post, the list was “researched and compiled by a committee that consisted of students, educators, parents and alums. All degrees within these programs were adjudicated including both performance, design and technology as well as direction, writing and any other areas of training. Factors taken into consideration were quality of faculty, variety of curriculum, facilities, career support, performance opportunities and scholarships, among others.”

The Department of Drama offers conservatory-style training at a major university, combined with a level of integration with a professional theater company––that is unparalleled among undergraduate programs. Programs include bachelor of fine arts degrees in acting, musical theater, stage management, and theater design and technology, as well as bachelor of science degree in drama.

According to Charles E. Morris III, professor and chairperson in CRS, “the award is a long-deserved testament to years of excellence in graduate education and inspiration for continued achievement by our current and future students and faculty.”

CRS offers a that stresses theoretical and methodological diversity, close guidance and advising by faculty instructors and high academic standards. The program specializes in training M.A. candidates to thrive as teachers and scholars and to succeed at the most renowned doctoral programs in the country. As one of the award nominators wrote, “in the 25 years that I have been a faculty member in a Ph.D. program, I can think of no other M.A. program that has produced so many exceptional Ph.D. applicants.” The nationally and internationally prominent, award-winning faculty balance deep roots in the discipline with interdisciplinary innovations.

The CRS master’s program is recognized for its faculty dedication to teaching and mentorship, reflected in the long and remarkable success of its students. “We were delighted to receive the news that we were awarded Outstanding Master’s Program,” says Rachel Hall, director of graduate studies. “Truth be told, we are accustomed to praise for our academic rigor and dedicated mentorship by those who have either studied with us or worked with our talented students after they leave CRS. We are also used to our excellent graduate students winning national awards for the work that they do with us. But it is quite another thing altogether to be publicly recognized as a premiere graduate program by the members of our national professional organization.”

Over the past decade, CRS students have received the M.A. Thesis of the Year Award from the Master’s Education Section of NCA five times. Each year, CRS graduate students’ work is competitively selected for presentation at leading conferences. On campus, CRS graduate student instructors have been awarded the Graduate School’s Outstanding TA Award every year for the past 12 years.

The NCA advances communication as the discipline that studies all forms, modes, media and consequences of communication through humanistic, social scientific and aesthetic inquiry. Each year, the NCA honors the best in communication, presenting awards for outstanding scholarship, teaching and professional service. The awards recognize a wide range of contributions to the communication discipline.

In Graphic Design USA’s (GDUSA) 2020 American Graphic Design Awards, 12 members of CMD’s Class of 2020 were named winners: Julia Duarte, Abi Gaudreau, Elese Gaydos, Shijing Li, Zixuan Liu, Nila Nejad, Sarah Noll, Amanda Odell, Michael Paris, Becky Savoia, Audrey Stevens and Jenna Wengle. .

“Moozen” food packaging, created by Nicole Stallings-Blanche ’20.

GDUSA, an information source for graphic design professionals, selected approximately 700 projects from more than 10,000 entries for the 2020 awards showcase.

In , seven of the 18 winners in the graphic design student category were members of the CMD Class of 2020: Jane Firmin, Megan Forbes, Elese Gaydos, Sophie Hessler, Becky Savoia, Nicole Stallings-Blanche and Rachel Werner. From those winners, Stallings-Blanche had her packaging for “Moozen” selected to be included in this year’s CQ  by graphic design judge Jonathan Ford, founding partner and group creative director of Pearlfisher in London.

Twelve of the 26 CQ62 graphic design runners-up were also from CMD: Julia Duarte ’20, Blake Duncanson ’20, Abi Gaudreau ’20, Elese Gaydos ’20, Zixuan Liu ’20, Nila Nejad ’20, Amanda Odell ’20, Regan Orzechowski ’21, Michael Paris ’20, Carly Robins ’20, Audrey Stevens ’20 and Jenna Wengle.

All winners will be published in the Spring 2021 issue of Creative Quarterly; winners and runners-up will appear in the online gallery. Stallings-Blanche will have her work published in the “100 Best Annual” hardcover book.

Creative Quarterly is an international journal focusing on promoting the best work in graphic design, illustration, photography and fine art.

Communications designers translate ideas and information through a variety of media. The School of Design’s leads to a bachelor of fine arts (B.F.A.) degree. Classes are modeled on professional practice, and students develop the ability to solve real-world problems along with a variety of skills in graphic media.

The 2021 VPA Scholars. Top row, left to right: Sabreen Ben Salem, Marne Brown, Cara Christian, Julie Coggiola, Liran Federmann, Brienna Flewelling. Bottom row, left to right: Madeleine Fratarcangelo, Candice Hatakeyama, Michelle Hubbard, Neva Knoll, Leito Navarrete, Matthew Quezada.

Twelve seniors in ���ϲ�����’s (VPA) have been named VPA Scholars, the college’s highest undergraduate academic honor.

The VPA Scholars program was established to recognize the achievements of the college’s top seniors. Students are selected based on academic performance, creative/scholarly work and service to the college and the community.

The 2021 VPA Scholars are:

• Sabreen Ben Salem, a communication and rhetorical studies major in the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies;
• Marne Brown, a communication and rhetorical studies major in the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies;
• Cara Christian, a drama major in the Department of Drama;
• Julie Coggiola, a music education major in the Rose, Jules R. and Stanford S. Setnor School of Music;
• Liran Federmann, a communications design major in the School of Design;
• Brienna Flewelling, a communications design major in the School of Design;
• Madeleine Fratarcangelo, a studio arts major in the School of Art;
• Candice Hatakeyama, a musical theater major in the Department of Drama;
• Michelle Hubbard, a film major in the Department of Transmedia;
• Neva Knoll, an art photography major in the Department of Transmedia;
• Leito Navarrete, a studio arts major in the School of Art; and
• Matthew Quezada, a music education major in the Setnor School of Music.

“The Rhetoric of Antisemitism: From the Origins of Christianity and Islam to the Present” by Amos Kiewe

Kiewe tackles the similar approach Islam has taken in its tension with Judaism and how it was turned centuries later into the Arab-Israeli conflict, significantly with the help of Nazi-antisemitism and propaganda. The book discusses the significant rise of antisemitism in the 19th and 20th centuries, including the forgery pamphlet “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” that promoted the charge of Jewish world domination, and the more recent 2001 Durban Conference as a major turning point in conflating antisemitism and anti-Zionism, including the linguistic games used to merge antisemitism with anti-Israelism.

Kiewe’s areas of research are in rhetorical theory and criticism, political communication, presidential studies, argumentation and persuasion. He has authored and edited numerous books and published in such journals as Communication Studies, Legal Studies Forum, Journal of American Culture, Argumentation and Advocacy and Southern Communication Journal. Recently he authored “Andrew Jackson: A Rhetorical Portrayal of Presidential Leadership” (University of Tennessee Press, 2019).

Directed by Ricky Pak, assistant professor of acting, “Impact: Past, Present, Future” is an exploration of the history of ���ϲ����� and an examination of our values as an institution with a focus on diversity and inclusion.

Each episode spans 40 years of University history: 1870-1910, 1911-1950, 1951-1990 and 1991-2020 plus 10. The creative team, which includes drama students and alumni, spent the past year exploring archival documents to uncover a rich history filled with high points and low points, triumph and tragedy, humor and pathos. The result is a work that both celebrates the University and compels us to do better.

The series, which is free and open to the public, will be presented on Zoom with captioning provided. Registration is required at to receive the Zoom link. Participants will have an opportunity to take part in a dialogue with the artists.

Pak hopes that “Impact: Past, Present, Future” will inspire 150 donations to the newly established Felix E. Cochren Jr. Memorial Scholarship fund, which intends to promote a more diverse student body in the drama department by providing scholarship and financial assistance to current students who are underrepresented in the program. Cochren was a beloved associate professor of theater design and technology in the department from 2002 to 2019, when he passed away at age 68.

Donations may be made while registering for the event at or by contacting Mike Grannis, assistant director of development and alumni relations in VPA’s Office of Advancement, at 315.708.2377 or mjgranni@syr.edu.

For more information about the performances, contact Pak at rpak02@syr.edu.

James Haywood Rolling Jr.

., a dual professor of arts education and teaching and leadership in the College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) and School of Education, has been appointed to the board of trustees of the in ���ϲ�����.

Rolling is one of seven new 2021 appointees who will join a group of 22 continuing trustees who have successfully steered the Everson Museum through the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We are thrilled to add this impressive group of individuals to our leadership team, especially as we prepare for yet another tricky year,” says Everson Director Elizabeth Dunbar. “The class of 2021 is stepping up to serve at a critical time in the history of our nation, city and organization, and I know they are committed to furthering the Everson’s mission and values. I look forward to learning and working together.”

“I look forward to working with new colleagues as committed as I am to the arts as an avenue for individual empowerment and social uplift not just for some, but for all,” says Rolling.

Rolling has served as chair of the University’s arts education programs since 2007 and is also an affiliated faculty member in African American Studies. From 2018 to 2020 he served as VPA’s inaugural director of diversity, equity and inclusion. This year he will begin his term as the 37th president of the National Art Education Association.

Nationally, Rolling champions the cause of achieving greater diversity throughout the visual arts fields and is devoted to telling the story of how human beings creatively constitute, shape and reinterpret personal and collective identity.

Felix E. Cochren Jr.

The Felix E. Cochren Jr. Memorial Scholarship intends to promote a more diverse student body in the drama department by providing scholarship and financial assistance to current students who are underrepresented in the program. Cochren was a beloved associate professor of theater design and technology in the department from 2002 to 2019, when he at age 68.

“Felix was an award-winning and ground-breaking designer, a distinguished member of the Department of Drama faculty for 17 years and a gracious colleague,” says Ralph Zito, professor and chair of the department. “Most importantly, he was a dedicated and caring mentor, not only to his design students, but to students in all programs of study—particularly to students of color. I can think of no better way to honor his memory—especially at this moment in the life of our nation and our institution—than through the establishment and expansion of this fund.”

The fund, which will begin awarding scholarships to students in Fall 2021, was established with a generous gift from the Gerald & Daphna Cramer Foundation Inc., facilitated by Lauren B. Cramer L’94, chair of the VPA Council and a member of the ���ϲ����� Board of Trustees. The gift is the latest in support of Forever Orange: The Campaign for ���ϲ�����’s $1.5 billion goal.

Cramer learned that Ricky Pak, an assistant professor of acting, was working with a creative team of drama students and alumni on a new theatrical project in conjunction with ���ϲ�����’s 150th anniversary that aimed to inspire 150 donors to give $150 to support underrepresented drama students. The piece, “Impact: Past, Present, Future,” explores the University’s history and examines its values as an institution with a specific focus on diversity and inclusion.

“Diversity and inclusion in the student population is a cornerstone value not only within the drama department but throughout the greater ���ϲ����� community as a whole,” says Pak. “However, a unique challenge for drama is that if we do not have a diverse population of students, it directly impacts our day-to-day curriculum. We lose the ability to tell stories that are not traditionally told to the rest of the greater ���ϲ����� community because we don’t have the appropriate student population from which to cast. The University has a richly diverse history that traces all the way back to its founding—a history that our project seeks to highlight while also creating opportunities for underrepresented students to be able to tell those stories on our stages one day.”

To encourage 150 donations to the Felix E. Cochren, Jr. Memorial Scholarship fund, the department will present “Impact: Past, Present, Future” as a series of four live staged readings directed by Pak on Jan. 25, Feb. 22, March 8 and March 22. The performances are free and open to the public. Registration is required. To register and make a donation to the fund, visit .

For more information or to make a gift to the fund, contact Mike Grannis, assistant director of development and alumni relations in VPA’s Office of Advancement, at 315-708-2377 or mjgranni@syr.edu.

About Forever Orange

Orange isn’t just our color. It’s our promise to leave the world better than we found it. Forever Orange: The Campaign for ���ϲ����� is poised to do just that. Fueled by 150 years of fearless firsts, together we can enhance academic excellence, transform the student experience and expand unique opportunities for learning and growth. Forever Orange endeavors to raise $1.5 billion in philanthropic support, inspire 125,000 individual donors to participate in the campaign, and actively engage one in five alumni in the life of the University. Now is the time to show the world what Orange can do. Visit to learn more.

Headlee came to ���ϲ����� to study with noted organist Arthur Poister and earned a master of music degree in 1953, following undergraduate work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with Jan Philip Schinhan. He retired from the University in May 1992 after 36 years of teaching, academic service and continuous choir directing activity, including six seasons with the Hendricks Chapel Choir.

Headlee was active in the American Guild of Organists (AGO) and the Organ Historical Society, performing at many conventions. He served as organist at Park Central Presbyterian Church in ���ϲ����� from 1992 until his passing.

“Headlee was a lifelong mentor and friend to me and many other organ students,” says Jim Potts ’74, who serves as organist and choirmaster at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in ���ϲ�����. “His influence on me as an organist and a church musician was unsurmountable.”

In 2010, Headlee helped celebrate the 60^th anniversary of the University’s Holtkamp Organ in Setnor Auditorium in Crouse College with a performance of pieces that he particularly connected to the organ, including Seth Bingham’s Rhythmic Trumpet (No. 4 from Baroques, 1944), which was by the ���ϲ����� chapter of the AGO. He also moderated panel sessions and helped develop content for the 2019 ���ϲ����� Legacies Organ Conference, an event celebrating Poister, Walter Holtkamp Sr. and Calvin Hampton.

“I am so grateful I had a chance to get to know Will Headlee over the past seven years,” says Anne Laver, assistant professor of organ in the Setnor School and current University organist. “He was a first-rate musician with a keen ear, and you could always count on him to give you his honest opinion of a performance. Will represented the best of humanity. He was kind, generous and devoted to his students.”

A celebration of Headlee’s life will be held at a later time. Memorials in honor of him can be directed to the Setnor School of Music by contacting Mike Grannis, assistant director of development and alumni relations, at 315.708.2377 or mjgranni@syr.edu.

Charles E. Morris III

Two faculty members in the College of Visual and Performing Arts’ Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies (CRS) have received awards from the .

, professor and chair of CRS, received the Distinguished Scholar Award from the NCA’s Critical and Cultural Studies Division. This is the second NCA division to award Morris this honor; in 2017 he was named a Distinguished Scholar by the Rhetorical and Communication Theory Division. Morris is recognized for his books and essays on queer historical criticism and public memory and for co-founding “QED: A Journal in GLBTQ Worldmaking.”

Keven James Rudrow

, assistant teaching professor in CRS, is the recipient of the 2020 Outstanding Dissertation Award from the NCA’s African American Communication and Culture Division and Black Caucus. His dissertation is titled “Resistive Black Masculinities: Race, Masculinity and the Hip-Hop Sensibilities of Black Popular Culture.” Rudrow joined the CRS faculty in Fall 2020. His work can be read in Critical Studies in Media Communication; Communication, Culture & Critique; and the Journal of Black Studies.

The NCA advances communication as the discipline that studies all forms, modes, media and consequences of communication through humanistic, social scientific and aesthetic inquiry. Each year, the NCA honors the best in communication, presenting awards for outstanding scholarship, teaching and professional service. The awards recognize a wide range of contributions to the communication discipline.

The IDSA Young Educator of the Year Award recognizes junior faculty, non-tenured or tenure-track educators who have made a noteworthy impact on industrial design education within the early years of their academic career. Individuals are nominated by a peer or student.

Louise Manfredi

Manfredi joined the School of Design faculty in 2017. In addition to teaching industrial and interaction design, she serves as the program lead for , which helps undergraduate students transform into inventors as they design, prototype and pitch original devices.

“I was pleasantly surprised to receive this award,” says Manfredi. “It is a wonderful feeling to be recognized not only by the faculty and students who nominated me but also by a committee of educators, fellows and industry professionals. That the committee saw the merit in my approach of blending design and engineering methodologies has been incredibly rewarding.”

“I’ve had the pleasure of co-teaching with Dr. Manfredi over the past two years, and as such, I could point to numerous examples for why she’s deeply deserving of this honor,” says Don Carr, professor and coordinator of the industrial and interaction design program. “As an educator, what’s abundantly clear is that through her teaching Louise makes the classroom fun, dynamic, challenging and her passion for learning is contagious.”

Manfredi’s teaching and research focuses on what can be learned from other disciplines to make design and engineering better. This commitment has seen designers learning from neuroscientists, and biomedical engineers learning about usability testing from industrial designers.

“It is so important that designers and engineers have the opportunity to learn from each other,” says Manfredi. “They work on different parts of the same projects in industry; therefore, it makes sense that they experience this in their education too.”

This commitment to interdisciplinarity is core to her research agenda, which blends multiple fields of study to promote sustainable material use in the prototyping phases of product development.

Manfredi is an active member of IDSA, the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) and the Design Research Society (DRS). She holds a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering and a B.Des. in product design from the University of Leeds, UK.

“I credit the breadth of my own education in design, science and engineering for the teaching skills I have developed so far,” notes Manfredi. “I feel that I have been successful because of the talented people who taught me and took the time to mentor me as a young academic. I always strive to exude the same passion for knowledge as my professors did and support students who have a desire to learn as much as they can.”

Top row, left to right: Albright-Tufts, Blake, Bonds, Carper, Dandridge. Middle row, left to right: Davenport, Decemvirale, DeLucia, Knuth, Moradian. Bottom row, left to right: Moro, Moy, Nolan, Rudrow, Solivan and Wrinn.

Nine new full-time faculty members joined the College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) this fall. In addition, seven current faculty members received new full-time appointments.

joins VPA as a tenure-track assistant professor of acting in the Department of Drama. For the last 20 years, Albright-Tufts has worked as an actress at Arena Stage, the Goodman Theatre, Berkeley Rep, Seattle Rep, the Marin Theatre Company, the Mint Theatre Company, the La Jolla Playhouse and many others. Since 2006 she has been a company member of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, where she has been a performer, director and teaching artist. She holds an M.F.A. in acting from the University of California-San Diego and a B.S. in performance from Ball State University.

transitions to a new role in the School of Art as a non-tenure-track assistant teaching professor of illustration. Previously, Blake was an instructor of illustration in the school. Blake has worked as a freelance illustrator and graphic designer for many years. Her work has been honored with inclusion in the exhibition of the Society of Illustrators, as well as publications including American Illustration, Print magazine, 3×3 and Communication Arts. Blake earned an M.F.A. in illustration from ���ϲ����� and a B.A. in printmaking from Kirkland College (now Hamilton College).

. will serve as a tenure-track assistant professor of musical theater in the Department of Drama. He previously served as a visiting assistant professor in the department for 2019-20. Bonds is an actor, director and writer whose Broadway credits include “Rent,” “Once on This Island” and “Parade,” for which he won the Drama Desk Nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Bonds earned an M.F.A. in directing from California State University at Fullerton and a B.S. in chemistry from the University of Cincinnati. He has trained with such acclaimed artists as Hal Prince, Michael Grief, Julie Taymor and Cameron Mackintosh.

is an assistant professor of musical theater in the Department of Drama beginning this fall. Prior to joining VPA, Schmidt was an assistant professor of practice at Texas State University, where she taught musical theater jazz, ballet technique, dance anatomy and choreographed “Ragtime,” “Legally Blonde,” “Guys and Dolls” and “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.” Her Broadway performance credits include the Grammy and Tony Award-winning “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” (2012 revival); “Follies” (2011 revival); and “Anything Goes” (2011 revival). She earned a B.F.A. in musical theater (with honors) from Elon University.

joins the Department of Transmedia this fall as a non-tenure-track assistant teaching professor of film. Prior to joining the department, he was an assistant professor of art and art history at DePauw University, where he taught courses in video and digital art. Dandridge is a moving image artist whose films interpret the nuances of African American culture through the poetics and aesthetics of experimental cinema. His research interrogates various histories through a combination of assemblage, superimposition and multi-channel orientation. He earned an M.F.A., with distinction, from the University of Oxford’s Ruskin School of Art. He also earned a B.A. in film and media studies from the University of Virginia.

joins the Department of Transmedia as a non-tenure-track visiting assistant teaching professor of film. He is in production of his sixth and seventh documentaries exploring the perspective of people with disabilities. His feature film “I Didn’t See You There” was awarded the Doc Society’s New Perspectives Grant and was selected to be included in the 2020 IFP Week. Davenport was named a 2020 Points North Fellow and a 2020 Bay Area Video Coalition MediaMaker Fellow in connection to the project. He holds an M.F.A. in documentary film and video from Stanford University and a B.A. in journalism and mass communication from George Washington University.

joins the School of Design as a faculty fellow in museum studies. Decemvirale is an active curator whose primary research focus includes Latinx art, African American art, the history of community art spaces and current movements in the decolonization and democratization of museum collections. He is currently working on completing his Ph.D. in the history of art at UC Santa Barbara, where his dissertation focuses on the methods and tactics of community-based cultural organizing and popular arts activism in Los Angeles. He earned an M.A. in curating contemporary art from the Royal College of Art and a B.A. in art history from New York University.

transitions to a new role in the VPA as a tenure-track assistant professor of art therapy and chair of the college’s new Department of Creative Arts Therapy. She joined the college in 2018 to develop the department as well as a new hybrid graduate program in art therapy and was a professor of practice in 2019-20. At the University’s Institute for Veterans and Military Families, DeLucia serves as curator of the National Veterans Resource Center’s gallery and research associate. She earned a Ph.D. in art therapy from Mount Mary University, an M.S. in art therapy from Nazareth College and a B.F.A. in studio art from SUNY College at Brockport.

begins a new role as a tenure-track assistant professor of violin and viola in the Rose, Jules R. and Stanford S. Setnor School of Music. Previously he was an assistant teaching professor in the Setnor School. As a member of the chamber music group Duo Sonidos, Knuth, along with guitarist Adam Levin, has performed extensively throughout the U.S., Europe, Africa and South America. Knuth’s and Levin’s most recent album, “Duo Sonidos: Wild Dance” (NAXOS, 2019), quickly rose to No. 3 on the Billboard classical albums chart. Knuth earned an M.M. from the New England Conservatory of Music, a Fulbright certificate for work at the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts and a B.M. from the Eastman School of Music.

begins a new role as a tenure-track assistant professor of film in the Department of Transmedia. Moradian joined the department in 2019 as an assistant teaching professor of film. She is a director, producer, screenwriter and editor who began her career as a filmmaker in 1996 and has since created more than 70 documentaries, short films, TV series and feature films. Her films—including “Doomsday Machine” (2009), “Story of the Land on Ashes” (2001), “Mahin” (1999) and “Polaris” (2016)—are mainly based on social justice, women’s rights and psychological impact of war. She earned an M.F.A. in film and video from California Institute of the Arts and a B.S. in cinema from the School of Cinema and Theatre at Tehran University of Art.

joins the Department of Drama as a non-tenure-track visiting assistant teaching professor of theater design and technology. Moro designs lighting, projection and scenery and works in theater, opera, ballet, museums and corporate events. He is a production photographer, videographer and content creator who has worked on and off Broadway, with major ballet companies and live events around the world. He has taught at the Yale School of Drama and recently created a projection design program while an assistant professor of design at Cornell University. He holds an M.F.A. in theater design from the Yale School of Drama and a B.A. in theater arts from Cornell University.

joins VPA and the School of Education as a tenure-track assistant professor of music education. Before joining ���ϲ�����, Moy was an associate professor of music at Connecticut College, where she also was the director of choral activities and head of music education. Moy’s research focuses on the culture of singing communities and the cultivation of social capital in successful choral organizations. She has presented her ethnographic research on the Seattle Men’s Chorus—the largest gay men’s chorus in the world and the largest community chorus in North America— at several national conferences. She is co-founder and co-artistic director of the professional chamber ensemble, Chorosynthesis Singers. She earned a D.Mus in choral conducting from the University of Washington, an M.M. from Westminster Choir College of Rider University and a B.A. in music education from Seattle Pacific University.

joins the Department of Creative Arts Therapy as a non-tenure-track professor of practice in art therapy. Prior to joining VPA, Nolan was a tenured associate professor at Mount Mary University. Her research focuses on the integration of clinical and community mental health and art therapy as a way to create access to care. She is founder of Bloom: Center for Art and Integrated Therapies, LLC, an organization that focuses on providing access to mental health care and art therapy. Nolan earned a doctorate in art therapy from Mount Mary University, an M.A. in counseling psychology from Adler University and a B.F.A. in art education from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign.

joins the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies as a non-tenure-track assistant teaching professor and affiliated faculty in the LGBTQ studies program. Prior to joining VPA, Rudrow was a doctoral student at the University of Memphis, where he taught rhetoric in popular culture and oral communication. His teaching and research explore contemporary discourses concerning race, gender and sexuality in American popular culture, emphasizing discourses about Black masculinity in relation to vulnerability and resistance in mainstream hip-hop music. He earned a Ph.D. in communication from the University of Memphis and M.A. and B.F.A. degrees in communication from Valdosta State University.

begins a new role in the Setnor School of Music as a tenure-track assistant professor of jazz voice performance. Previously, she was a part-time instructor in the Setnor School. Solivan has performed and recorded as a vocalist with renowned musicians including Christian McBride, Peter Bernstein, Jeremy Pelt, Bruce Barth, Gregory Hutchinson, Jonathan Blake, Xavier Davis, Michael Kanan, Steve Wilson, Gene Bertoncini and Lewis Nash, among many others. She has appeared at iconic jazz locations including Smoke Jazz and Supper Club, Smalls Jazz Club, Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, Birdland and The Blue Note. She earned an M.A. in jazz studies from the New England Conservatory and a B.A. in performance and music education from Berklee College of Music.

transitions to a new role in the Department of Drama as a tenure-track assistant professor of musical theater. Previously, Wrinn was a part-time instructor in the department. She has worked professionally as a performer and teaching artist throughout the Chicago area, including spending three years as an actor/deviser with the Lecoq-based physical theater company Theater Unspeakable. She currently serves as the directory manager for , a group that provides support, visibility and community for women in the musical theater industry. She holds an M.F.A. in musical theater writing from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and a B.F.A. in musical theater from ���ϲ�����.