Points of Pride lists faculty, student and alumni achievements. It is accumulated and produced three times a year, generally in January, March, and October.
Grants and Awards
Arts Are Basic has received approximately $10,000 in grants from both state and national agencies this fall.
John Bailey, Larson Professor of Flute, has been awarded two Visiting Scholar Grants from the UNL Research Council to bring Dr. Claudia Anderson and Dr. Jill Felber to Lincoln March 13-14. He has also received a University of Nebraska Research Council Grant-In-Aid for a project entitled "Works for Wind, Quintet by Theodor Blumer, Vol. 2."
Santiago Cal, Assistant Professor of Art, has received a University of Nebraska Research Council Grant-In-Aid for his project entitled "Weight of a Thought, Self Parasitism and Other Interpretations of the Human Form."
Diane Cawein, Associate Professor of Clarinet, was awarded a Visiting Scholar Grant from the UNL Research Council to bring Dr. Dennis Nygren to Lincoln March 9-12.
Eddie Dominguez, Assistant Professor of Ceramics, will be working with minority high school students through a grant offered by the Hurd Museum in Phoenix this spring.
Dana Fritz, Assistant Professor of Art, has received a University of Nebraska Research Council Grant-In-Aid for her project entitled "Garden Views: The Culture of Nature."
Lisa Fusillo, Professor and Head of the Dance Division, was awarded a $5,000 grant from the Woods Charitable Fund, Inc. for the "Celebrating Charles Weidman" project. These funds will help support participatory performances in rehabilitation facilities, retirement facilities and nursing homes in Lincoln, as well as other expenses for the project. The project has also received an award from the Nebraska Arts Council.
N. Keith Jacobshagen, Professor of Art, was chosen as one of 10 faculty from our campus to be named as the first Charles Bessey and Willa Cather professors. The Bessey and Cather professorships, which will vary in number of appointments from year to year, are open to all full professors (regardless of academic discipline) who do not already hold another named professorship or chair. The appointments are for five years and are renewable upon review. Each includes a $2,500 annual stipend. Each professor has the option to be either a Bessey or Cather professor.
Wendy Katz, Assistant Professor of Art History, has received a University of Nebraska Research Council Grant-In-Aid for her project entitled "Regionalism and Reform: Art and Class Formation in Antebellum Cincinnati."
Joseph Kraus, Professor of Music Theory, has received a University of Nebraska Research Council Grant-In-Aid for his project entitled "From Fragments into Themes' Revisited: Sibelius's Thematic Process."
George Ritchie, Scribante Professor of Organ and Music History, has received a University of Nebraska Research Council Grant-In-Aid for "J.S. Bach Organ Works, Vol. V: Orgelbuechlein Plus."
Virginia Smith, Assistant Professor of Theatre Arts, received a University of Nebraska Research Council Grant-in-Aid to write a play based on oral histories from the cold war years in Kimball, Nebr. The project is entitled "Ground Zero, Kimball, NE."
Pamela Starr, Associate Professor of Music History, has been awarded a Visiting Scholar Grant from the UNL Research Council to bring Dr. Laurence Dreyfus to Lincoln April 19-22.
Sharon Teo, Assistant Professor of Theatre Arts, received a University of Nebraska Research Council Grant-In-Aid and a Nebraska Arts Council grant for her film, Breeders.
Scott Anderson, Assistant Professor of Trombone, presented a master class Nov. 17 at the Nebraska Music Educators Convention entitled "Using Midi in the Applied Teaching Studio." During the fall semester, Anderson performed with the Kansas City Ballet on Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty and with the Minnesota Orchestra on Arnold Schonberg's Gurre Lieder.
Ron Bartels, Associate Professor of Graphic Design, designed the graphic identity for Joslyn Castle Institute and UNL's joint conference "Ecospheres" (June 7-10, 2001). This was recently selected for the graphic design exhibition "Corporate Identity 2002" in New York City, by David Carter (juror). This work will be published in the spring of 2002 in the book, "Logo 2002" edited by Carter.
Shelley Brackhan, Social Dance Instructor in the Dance Division, was voted "Outstanding Professor for October 2001" by the UNL Mortar Board. Members of the social dance class also showed off their skills at the Del-Ray Ballroom on Nov. 9.
Faculty
Ariel Bybee, Associate Professor/Artist in Residence, performed for the 75th Anniversary of the Prairie Schooner in a program featuring music used in works by Willa Cather that were published in the literary journal. Bybee also performed a concert in Provo, Utah, at the annual Marriott School of Business Conference.
Diane Cawein, Associate Professor of Clarinet, published a review of the 2001 International Clarinet Association High School Competition in the December issue of The Clarinet. She also served as a judge for the final round of the I.C.A. Young Artist Competition this past August at the annual ClarinetFest in New Orleans and published a review of clarinet music that was featured in the December/January 2001/2002 issue of The American Music Teacher, the official journal of the Music Teachers National Association. Cawein has been invited to be a featured artist at the 2002 Oklahoma Clarinet Symposium in June where she will also serve as a judge for the newly formed O.C.S. Young Artist Competition.
Eddie Dominguez, Assistant Professor of Ceramics, and his ceramic art were featured in the Oct. 5 Santa Fe New Mexican. He had a gallery show in Santa Fe and a solo show at Munson Gallery in October. He is also doing a public art work in Albuquerque, N.M. and in San Antonio, Texas.
Theatre Arts Chairman and Professor Jeffery S. Elwell's play, "Falling to Earth," is scheduled to have a staged reading in New York in late February. His play, Fenced In, is scheduled to have a reading at The Luna Stage in Montclair, N.J., in April.
Lisa Fusillo, Professor and Head of the Dance Division, and the UNL Dance Division have been awarded the Dance Legacy Award by the American Dance Guild and have been invited to perform the Weidman dances in New York City at the Kaye Playhouse May 3-6, 2002.
Donna Harler-Smith, Professor of Voice, and Michael Cochran, Assistant Professor of Voice, served as panelists for the Regional NATS convention at Ft. Hays State University discussing criteria for adjudicating young singers.
Karen Kunc, Professor of Printmaking, was elected to the UNL Graduate Council to represent the area of the arts. Her four-year term runs through August 2005.
Shirley Mason, Associate Professor of Theatre Arts, was recently cast in the Summer 2002 Nebraska Repertory Theatre production of "Wit."
Albie Micklich, Assistant Professor of Bassoon, is featured on the world premiere recording of "The Music of David Maslanka" (Albany Records, Fall 2001). This past August, Micklich was invited to present a lecture on Mozart's Bassoon Concerto at the International Double Reed Society Convention held at the Univ. of West Virginia.
The Moran Woodwind Quintet (John Bailey, flute; William McMullen, oboe; Diane Cawein, clarinet; Albie Micklich, bassoon; and Allen French, horn) performed in a recital sponsored by the Rapid City, South Dakota, Arts Council in November. The recital will be broadcast on South Dakota public radio. The quintet also gave clinics in two Rapid City high schools and worked with private teachers and their students in masterclasses and lessons.
Glenn Nierman, Steinhart Professor and Chair of Music Education and Interim Associate Director of the School of Music completed a review of music standards and assessment practices for the South African government via a video conference in November. He will make three presentations at the Music Educators National Conference in Nashville in April. This November Nierman was elected President of the Nebraska Music Educators Association (NMEA).
Chuck O'Connor, Professor of Theatre Arts, was elected to the UNL Academic Planning Committee.
Clark Potter, Associate Professor of Viola, was invited by the conductor of the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra of Washington, D.C., to join the ensemble for a week of rehearsals and performances at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., at the Landmark Theatre In Richmond, Va., and at Carnegie Hall in New York City.
George Ritchie, Scribante Professor of Organ and Music History, recorded the two CDs for the next volume in his ongoing project of recording all of the Bach organ works. This will be titled "J.S. Bach Organ Works, Vol. 5: Orgelbuechlein Plus" and will be released on the Raven label in March, 2002.
Virginia Smith, Assistant Professor of Theatre Arts, was recently cast in the Summer 2002 Nebraska Repertory Theatre productions of "Wit" and "Dinner with Friends." Her play, "Roll On Old River" was performed as part of the Theatre in Museums Conference at the Science Museum of Minnesota in September and played 20 venues on tour in Western Wisconsin in September and October. Her children's musical, "The Little Humpback Horse," is in production for opening on campus and a school tour in March.
Pamela Starr, Associate Professor of Music History, was an invited speaker at Yale University in the conference "A Sense of Place: Seventy Years of Musical Scholarship at Yale" Dec. 7-9. Her paper was titled "Musical Entrepreneurship in Fifteenth Century Europe."
Students
Yvonne Anderson, MM, performed with Light Opera Oklahoma for singing roles in "Mikado," "Naughty Marietta" and "My Fair Lady."
Denise Brady's (graduate student in printmaking) book Blown Roses, poems by Nancy McCleery with linocuts by Jaime Hackbart (MFA alumnus) received a "Gold" in the 2001 AIGA Nebraska (American Institute of Graphic Artists) annual show. The edition of 125 copies was designed, hand set, printed and bound by Brady. It was entered in the AIGA Nebraska "miscellaneous" category for which it received the highest award.
Dorea Claassen, a junior BA music major (trumpet) and mathematics major from Denver, is one of three UNL students named 2001 Goldwater Scholars. The three UNL students are among 302 winners nationwide. They receive either one-or two-year scholarships valued at $7500 per year.
Tim Dickmeyer, MM, was named the Coordinator of Touring and Educational Programs with the Omaha Symphony.
Scott Herr, MM, sang the leading role in the Lincoln Community Playhouse's production of "The Story of Fredinand." Other students participating in the production were Tony Potempa, Anne Ghormley (BME freshman), and Laurie Martinez-Lessman (BM senior). Martinez-Lessman also served as musical director for the recent "Tribute to Pearl Harbor" performance at the Lied Center.
Karen Kness, MM, was one of 20 semi-finalists in the International SOS (Save Our Singers) competition in Denver. She was selected from more than 400 applicants.
Sarah Kouma Barnard (BM senior) sang the role of Nancy in Lincoln Star City Dinner Theater's production of "Oliver!" and will sing the role of the Mother in "Amahl and the Night Visitors" with the Wyoming Symphony in December.
Nathan LeFeber, BME senior, and Kevin Fullerton, MM, won positions with the Plymouth Brass.
Nathan LeFeber won the Nebraska Music Educators Association (NMEA) Solo Competition at UNL. He was also one of the winners in the School of Music Concerto Competition.
Scott Miller, DMA, performed with Opera Omaha's All-American concert with Sylvia McNair and in "Amahl and the Night Visitors."
Simone Evenson Weber, BME senior, won the Collegiate division of the $1,000 Soli Deo Gloria Cantorum competition and performed with Jackson Berkey on the concerts in Lincoln and Omaha.
The following students were state winners in the annual competition sponsored by the Nebraska Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS):
- Tony Potempa (3rd) (BM junior)
- Kristin Simmons (3rd) (BM freshman)
- Jamie Reimer (1st) (MM)
- Ginger Reinhardt-Milner (2nd) (MM)
- Harold Barnard (finalist) (MM)
The following students were Regional winners in NATS:
- Erin Grych (3rd) (MM)
- Scott Herr (5th) (MM)
- semi-finalists Kristin Simmons, Tony Potempa and Ginger Reinhardt-Milner
Three students from the UNL Oboe studio were winners on October 28 in the annual NMTA (Nebraska Music Teachers Association) Collegiate Artists Woodwind Competition held at the campus of the University of Nebraska at Omaha. The competition is open to all college woodwind students in Nebraska colleges, undergraduate and graduate. First Place winner was Lindsay Ladman, senior BME oboe major; Second Place winner was Lindsay Wiley, sophomore BM oboe major; and receiving Honorable Mention was Amelia Youngers, freshman BM oboe major.
UNL dancers performed on October 17 at the State Capitol Rotunda; on November 9 at Calvert Elementary School; and on November 16 at Lancaster Manor as part of the "Celebrating Charles Weidman" project. They will perform on January 30 at the Governor's Arts Awards ceremony.
Tim Fredstrom (Ph.D. in Music Education 1999) has been appointed Music Department Chair of the new Lincoln Southwest High School.
The Oregonian Sept. 27 featured alumnus Jacquline Hurlbert, a sculptor.
William Kuhn (Ph.D. emphasis in Music Education 2000) had his doctoral dissertation research accepted for presentation at the Nebraska Music Educators Convention in November.
Cathy Mallett (Ph.D. emphasis in Music Education, 2000) received a Nebraska Catalyst Project grant from the Nebraska Department of Education for a project involving technology and music teacher training.
Ahna Packard, (MFA 1998 in Scenic Design) is the Set Designer for the next Star Trek movie.
Dawn Schaefer (MFA 1999 in Scenic Design) served as the Production Designer for the Carol Burnett Special on CBS in November.
Tim Yontz (Ph.D. emphasis in Music Education 2001) had his doctoral dissertation research accepted for presentation at the Nebraska Music Educators Convention in November.
Affiliates
The Association of Institutes for Aesthetic Education has granted Arts Are Basic Mentor status to guide the Arts In Education Institute of Delaware in the development of a rural arts program. AAB has the most extensive rural program among all aesthetic institutes in the US.
Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden has received reaccreditation from the American Association of Museums after a year of working to meet requests the association made last year. Sheldon Director Janice Driesbach presented a paper on "Thomas Hill: Art and Illusions" at the conference "Plein Air, Before, and Beyond: A Century of California Art," offered by New York University School of Continuing and Professional Studies at the Huntington Library, Garden, and Art Collections in San Marino, California.