Happy Spring and Great News! The following colleagues are the recipients of the College of Liberal Arts Outstanding Faculty and Staff Awards:
Ava Chamberlain, Religion, Philosophy, & Classics - Outstanding Faculty Member
Teressa McWilliams, Theatre, Dance, & Motion Pictures - Outstanding Teaching
Paul Lockhart, History - Outstanding Research
Carol Loranger, English - Outstanding Professional Service
Shreya Bhandari, Social Work - Outstanding Early Career Achievement
Alpana Sharma, English - Outstanding Community Engagement
Frank Eguaroje, Sociology, and Art & Art History - Outstanding Lecturer/Instructor
Paula Kraus, Art & Art History - Outstanding Adjunct
April Coppess, Music - Outstanding Staff
Congratulations all! We look forward to officially honoring them at our CoLA Awards Reception following our CoLA Faculty Retreat at The Lake Campus on August 20. Please save this date and place for the Retreat and Awards Reception.
Last night was opening night for Les Misérables at our own Festival Playhouse. And it was a Tour de Force! It brought the house down and there was not a dry eye in the place. I am continually amazed at the talent (and hard work) of our students. There were so many excellent set designers, musicians, crew, and performers, including Andrew Quiett (Jean Valjean), Law Dunford (Javert), Amy Wheeler (Fantine), and Kaitlyn Sage (Cosette) who were exceptional. I could list the whole cast here! Congratulations to Director Stuart McDowell and his fantastic team in Theatre, Dance & Motion Pictures, as well as Jim Tipps, Music, and Marie Hertzler, Modern Languages, Anne Moore, French student, and the French group. BRAVO!! I would say that you should run and get tickets, but they sold out within 40 minutes the day sales opened.
The Art & Art History Department is hosting a teacher and student regional high school exhibition March 19-30 in the Robert and Elaine Stein Galleries. Thirteen high schools participated and the art teachers selected the works to be exhibited. This is a great way that high school students can get a feel for our WSU facilities, faculty, and scope. The diversity of the materials is stunning, so you won't want to miss this show. There will be a public reception March 30 from 2:30 - 4 p.m.
La Fleur Small, Sociology, is serving as a reviewer for the Ford Foundation Sociology Panels for Pre-doctoral, Doctoral and Post-doctoral awards. These awards are designed to aid people with evidence of superior scholarship, commitment to a career in teaching and research, and who will use diversity as a resource for enriching the education of all students. Great Work La Fleur!
Continuing our focus on internships leading to jobs, the Department of Communication has some excellent success stories. Andy Sedlak started as a sports intern at the Dayton Daily News and is currently an award-winning multimedia-journalist for Cox Media, owner of the Dayton Daily News. Michelle Gigante was initially a Wright-Patterson Air Force Base intern and was then hired by them as the official Air Force Photographer and Visual Communication Specialist. Laura Mays completed a public relations internship at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and was hired and then promoted as Congressional Liaison representing the base. Matt Chinn started as a Reynolds and Reynolds Project Aid Intern and then as a Corporate Telecom Administration Intern prior to being hired as a Technical Support Specialist and currently a writer-search engine optimizer for the Reynolds and Reynolds Naked Lime Division. Thank you to Internship Coordinator Martha Antolik and her Communication colleagues.
May Poon, Music student, won Second Place in the Instrumental Category of the Three Arts Scholarship Fund Competition in Cincinnati, receiving recognition and $3,400. The committee also selected her to perform at the 2014 Three Arts Luncheon to be held at the Cincinnati Woman's Club. May performed beautifully at the College Women's Club of Dayton luncheon when I spoke there last semester on Higher Education, Access, and the Future of our Country. We were both well received. Congratulations May!
I am looking forward to all of the awards receptions coming up as we race to the end of the semester and graduation. Best Wishes all!
