In May, Rachel Parker ('10 and '12) was named the program director for Towne House Retirement Community located on W. Washington Center Road. In 2010, Parker received her B.M. in vocal performance and her B.S. in music therapy in 2012.

VCD graphic design major Lydia Dunderman created an advertisement for Global Organic Alliance, Inc., which is currently running in the USA Today Special Edition U.S. Department of Agriculture publication. The ad, which appears on page 85, also can be viewed in the digital version of the magazine-style publication. Dunderman is working with Global Organic Alliance owner Betty Kananen to create a wide range of new marketing and publicity materials.

Let's Play, a book by recent VCD graduate Rebecca Batdorf, was released June 10, 2014, for sale by Tate Publishing on Amazon. A therapeutic aid, the book was designed to help teach children social play expectations and was a major component of Batdorf's senior project for her B.F.A. in graphic design.

Amber Klinker ('13, B.A., theatre) was selected for a summer internship position with the South Bend Civic Theatre. She will design costumes for A Wrinkle in Time, based on the Newberry Award-winning book, as well as costumes for the musical The Producers, including the Chrysler Building dress and a beer stein costume..

John Ilang-Ilang ('13, B.F.A. graphic design) is now art director at Catalyst Marketing.

Jason Simon was named the Department of Music's 2014 Outstanding Senior in Music Performance. The winner of numerous prizes and awards, he graduated from IPFW in spring 2014 with a B.M. in piano performance and will be pursuing a master's degree in piano performance at the Cleveland Institute of Music in the fall.

Dane Curtis ('14) is a graphic designer in Global Product Labeling Services (GPLS) at Roche Diagnostics in Indianapolis. Most of the projects for GPLS are FDA regulated and his department is charged with creating packaging, labels, inserts, and manuals for Roche products around the world. Curtis's designs are translated to more than 30 different languages and those products are sold all over the world.

VCD associate faculty Gregor Roth and his work were featured in the May 15, 2014, issue of Whatz Up. "Walk into a gallery housing his work and you literally walk into Roth's sculpture. With yarn lines that stretch from wall to wall, his sculptures envelop you physically, challenging you to simply reconsider a space that has possibly become ordinary," explains writer Michele DeVinney. To find out more about his work visit www.gregorroth.com.

The Department of Theatre was notified by the National Association of Schools of Theatre (NAST) Commission on Accreditation at the end of April that it has been approved for continuing accreditation following its most recent evaluation. The Commission on Accreditation and the Association noted that it "appreciated the institution's efforts with regard to its application, and its careful consideration of and attention to NAST accreditation standards and guidelines." IPFW is now one of approximately 175 accredited institutional members across the country.

Professor of Fine Arts Audrey Ushenko will spend the summer once again demonstrating her painting techniques in the James R. Thompson Building Atrium in Chicago, Illinois, under the auspices of the Illinois State Museum Chicago Gallery. Ushenko recently received a grant from the Illinois Arts Council to continue her project started in summer 2013 and has been awarded additional funding for the project from the IPFW Department of Fine Arts.