Scheidt School of Music Shines at Centennial Kick-Off
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WINTER 2012 THE MAGAZINE OF THE COLLEGE OF COMMUNICATION AND FINE ARTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS Scheidt School of Music Shines at Centennial Kick-Off PHANTOM OF THE OPERA BRINGS BROADWAY MAGIC TO U OF M ARTNEWS’ BARBARA MCADAM JUDGE FOR JURIED STUDENT EXHIBITION CNN’S NATALIE ALLEN FEATURED AT JOURNALISM ALUMNI AWARDS COLLEGE OF COMMUNICATION AND FINE ARTS WINTER 2012 Richard R. Ranta Dean Moira Logan Associate Dean Patty Bladon College Development Director Mary Mansour Business Officer Laurie Snyder Assistant to the Dean A Message from the Dean for Undergraduate Programs It is quite a year in the College of Communication and Fine Arts with lots Angie Hollis of activities related to the University’s 100th anniversary celebration. The Academic Services Coordinator official opening of the Centennial at the Cannon Center on September 30, featuring outstanding performances from the ensembles of the Rudi E. Simone Wilson Scheidt School of Music, was a night not to be missed. There were many Public Relations and highlights, but the one I will remember best was Sound Fuzion singer Outreach Coordinator Jessica Griffin performing a simply marvelous duet with the renowned Hugh Busby Aaron Neville, the evening’s guest artist. Watching Griffin and Neville, one Local Support Provider II would have thought that they had been singing together professionally for years! The audience rose to its feet in unison giving thunderous applause UNITS for the performance’s poise and talent. I could go on about others—alumni, students and faculty—who gave superb performances and led to many Michael Hagge comments on the extraordinary talent that the Scheidt School of Music produces. Chair, Department of Architecture Remarkable talent will also take the stage starting February 16, 2012 when the Department of Theatre Richard Lou & Dance and the Scheidt School jointly present The Phantom of the Opera. The University’s production of Chair, Department of Art Phantom will be the first college production in the Mid-South since the rights were released for high schools and colleges in June 2010. Already during the special pre-sale event in November, the demand for tickets Leslie Luebbers to our eight performances has been overwhelming. Official ticket sales will start January 30 at the theatre Director, Art Museum department’s box office.Phantom of the Opera is the second musical on the theatre department’s bill since of the University of Memphis launching its new musical theatre program in the fall. We were excited to host David Dorfman Dance, one of the most influential American contemporary Leroy Dorsey Chair, Department of Communication dance companies of the past two decades, for a fall residency and performance thanks to a significant grant from SouthArts, a regional arts partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, and support from the David Arant University’s Student Event Allocation Committee and a U of M public service grant. Chair, Department of Journalism Not just the performing arts excelled this year as the following sample of outstanding scholarship and achievements unmistakably shows: Randal Rushing In Architecture, Jenna Thompson will present a research paper on sustainability entitled “Convergence Director, and Confluence: Systems Thinking Approach to Integrated Sustainability in Higher Education” as part of the Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music World Symposium on Sustainable Development at the 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development Bob Hetherington (UNCSD) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Chair, Department of Theatre & Dance In Art, Todd Richardson published a book entitled Pieter Bruegel the Elder: Art Discourse in the Sixteenth- Century Netherlands, and Donalyn Heise and Laurie MacGillivray co-authored “Implementing an Art Michael Schmidt Program for Children in a Homeless Shelter,” published in Studies in Art Education. Director, Center for Multimedia Arts In Communication, Allison Graham co-edited “Media,” a volume in The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture series and Tony de Velasco and Melody Lehn co-edited a volume of essays entitled Rhetoric: Voices is produced by the Office of the Dean, College of Concord and Controversy. Craig Leake and his daughter Mackenzie garnered a regional Emmy nomination Communication and Fine Arts, for their filmDon’t Make Me Start This Car!, which chronicles her fear of driving. University of Memphis Thanks largely to the efforts of Otis Sanford, Hardin Chair of Excellence, the Department of Journalism pre- sented a daylong conference on the First Amendment, which included the first Norm Brewer lecture by Hank Editor in Chief: Richard R. Ranta Klibanoff, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Race Beat, and many other noted panelists and speakers. Editor: Simone Wilson CCFA relies greatly on the loyal support of its friends and alumni such as Robert and Martha Fogelman and Jimmy Humphreys, whose generous efforts have helped to enhance the new home of the Departments of Art and Design: A. Christopher Drown Communication in the former law school, now the Art and Communication Building. When the move is finished, we Production Assistant: Kim Shaw Brisco will have an open house to share this new space with you. I hope that you will join us then. Printing: Peerless Printing In June, we were sad to learn that Russell Pugh, professor emeritus and former chair of the Department Photos: Jay Atkins, Rhonda Cosentino, Pam Hurley, of Music, died after a long illness. For more than 50 years, Pugh was an educator, teaching countless stu- Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital, Chip Pankey, dents in a wide variety of musical areas. Eric Wilson It is somewhat unusual to speak of retirements mid-year, but someone who has been an integral part of the College and fundamental to its development through tireless work with donors, friends, and alumni re- Please send e-mail addresses, address changes, and copy corrections tired in December. Patty Bladon has been by my side and, indeed, often in front of me, for 11 years as the to [email protected] College’s Director of Development. To say that a great deal of what we have accomplished with the help of The College of Communication and Fine Arts our friends and alumni has been through Patty’s efforts is not news to anyone who has been around CCFA 232 CFA Building during the past decade. Although I know that many of us will continue to see her at art events or HEAR her Memphis, TN 38152 at Tiger basketball games, it is hard to imagine the next years without her by our sides and in our ears with friendly and firm advice. She is the best of the best and we wish her the best in her retirement. ccfa.memphis.edu Richard R. Ranta, Dean College of Communication and Fine Arts 2 VOICES WINTER 2012 Content Patty Bladon, director of development for the College of Communication and Fine Arts for the past eleven years, retired from the University of Memphis in December. An undergraduate alumna of the Department of Art, she began her career as a full-time faculty member in the art history program. She also served on the faculties of the Memphis College of Art and Rhodes College. For nearly twenty years she has filled various leadership positions at The Memphis Brooks Museum of Art including two years as interim director. Her work for our College and the University during the past years has made a tremendous impact. We will certainly miss her. CCFA 2 12 AMUM Willy Bearden Honored Barbara McAdam of ARTnews is Judge with 2011 Distinguished Achievement Award for 29th Annual Juried Student Exhibition Architecture 4 13 CMA Architecture Students Create Program to Guide CMA Continues to Focus on Issues Surrounding First Year Students Child, Youth, and Family Wellbeing Art 5 14 Advancing the Creative Process Julie McGee is New Dorothy Kayser Hohenberg Chair of Excellence in Art History 15 Friends of the College Communication 6 Graduate Student Makes a Difference 18 News & Notes During Two-Year Internship at Le Bonheur Journalism 7 Natalie Allen Featured During Visit ccfa.memphis.edu 2011 Journalism Alumni Awards for even more CCFA news. Music 8 Scheidt School of Music Shines as University of Memphis Commences Centennial Celebrations On the cover: The University of Memphis kicked off its Centennial Celebration with a concert at the Cannon Center on September 30, 2011. For the event, the University invited Theatre & Dance 10 three recent Scheidt School of Music back on stage to be Phantom of the Opera featured alongside the nearly two hundred music majors Brings Broadway Magic to U of M who also participated in the fesitivities. Renowned R&B artist Aaron Neville was the evening’s headliner. Photo by Rhonda Consentino. CCFA ADVISORY BOARD Ward Archer, Rickki Boyce, Dean Deyo, Bob Eoff, Art Gilliam, Herman Markell, Judy McCown, Charlotte Neal, Michael Osborn, Steve Pacheco, Mike Palazola, Chris Peck, Knox Phillips, David Porter, Frank Ricks, Mickey Robinson, Rudi E. Scheidt, Jack Soden, Jimmy Tashie Emeritae: Richard Lightman, Beverly Ross ccfa.memphis.edu 1 CCFA Willy Bearden Honored with 2011 Distinguished Achievement Award Willy Bearden, 2011 recipient of the College of Communication and Fine Arts Distinguished Achievement Award in the Creative and Performing Arts, is a widely regarded Memphis author and filmmaker. He also is deeply involved in the University Libraries’ annual Delta Symposium, which has grown to most-favored status among lov- ers of “Everything Southern.” Bearden was feted at the 33rd annual awards event at the Rendezvous restaurant in downtown Memphis on November 4. No better location could have served as setting for the honoree and those who remarked on the occasion surrounded by walls of memorabilia bespeaking the region’s storied past. Known for his very popular WKNO series Memphis Memoirs, Noted Memphis filmmaker William “Willy” Bearden was honored with the College’sDis - Bearden was born in the Delta town of Rolling Fork, Mississippi.