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
Congratulations to David Bagby, Information Technology Services Manager for the College, who was the recipient of a Kudos Award from the University of Nebraska Board of Regents in October for his outstanding service to the University. Bagby helps students, faculty and staff use computers and multimedia technology in their studies, teaching, work, research and creative activities.
The Glenn Korff School of Music was featured in September on worldwidelearn.com’s list of the Top 10 Universities Where Music Thrives, for schools that offer options for non-majors who are still interested in music.
The Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film’s film and new media program was named the 5th best in the Midwest by Animation Career Review’s Top 20 list in October.
The Department of Art and Art History ranked #9 in ceramics, #16 in printmaking and #62 for overall graduate fine arts programs in the latest US News and World Report rankings in September.
Congratulations to the School of Music’s Hannah Lambert, who was crowned Homecoming Queen on Sept. 29 during halftime of the Nebraska-Wisconsin football team. Lambert is a music education senior and a drum major of the Cornhusker Marching Band. Music education senior Tyler Gruttemeyer was also a candidate for Homecoming King.
Meredith Lee (B.M.E.), who marched with the Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps this summer, earned first place in the Drum Corps International (DCI) Individual and Ensemble Contest on French horn in July. She also participated in the first place winning Vocal Ensemble from the Blue Devils.
Molly Polsen (B.F.A. Film and New Media) was awarded the Charles and Lucille King Family Foundation undergraduate scholarship for 2012. The scholarships are open to any junior and senior undergraduate film and television major in the country. Only 13 were selected in 2012 to receive the scholarship.
Congratulations to Emily Martinez (B.A. Theatre), from the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film, who was one of 13 students at UNL to be named to the first “Franco’s List” by the UNL Center for Civic Engagement for their commitment to character as defined by their peers. The students were nominated as outstanding agents for the “Show Your Red” campaign and its six building blocks. The list is named by students for Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Juan Franco. Martinez was also inducted as a member of the Black Masque Chapter of the Mortar Board National Senior Honor Society last spring. The Mortar Board is the University of Nebraska’s only national senior honor society and recognizes seniors on the basis of outstanding scholarship, leadership and service to the University and to the community. Martinez is pursuing a dual-emphasis in performance and directing/management.
Faculty
Scott Anderson, Hixson-Lied Professor of Trombone, and Alan Mattingly, Associate Professor of Horn, performed Six Duos for Horn and Trombone by Verne Reynolds at the International Horn Society Workshop at the University of North Texas in Denton this summer.
John Bailey, Larson Professor of Flute, presented at the international conference of the International Society for Music Education (ISME) in Thessaloniki, Greece, in June, on his "buddy" system of private instruction, developed over the last 20 years at UNL. In May Bailey conducted the International Flute Orchestra (35 professional flutists from the U.S. and Canada) on tour at the Slovenian Flute Festival and in Croatia. In August Bailey presented a lecture/recital and performed Alwyn's Concerto for flute and eight winds at the National Flute Association's national convention in Las Vegas, also conducting the NFA Collegiate Flute Choir.
Diane Barger, Hixson-Lied Professor of Clarinet, organized the 2012 International Clarinet Association's ClarinetFest® held in Lincoln in August. Serving as Artistic Director of the conference, Barger welcomed more than 1,000 clarinetists from around the world to the campus. Her other activities include the release of her CD project "Bling Bling" and her 13 editions of Bellini operatic fantasies, all published by Potenza Music.
Paul Barnes, Hixson-Lied Professor of Piano, performed “A Retrospective on Philip Glass at 75” at Lincoln Center in New York on March 31 in honor of the composer’s 75th birthday. He also performed the world premiere of N. Lincoln Hanks’ “Monstre sacre” in the Cutting Edge Concert Series at Symphony Space in New York on April 2. In September, he presented “A Program of Premiers” featuring the Chiara String Quartet. Barnes performed the three world-premier compositions he has premiered in each of the last three years.
Dale Bazan, Assistant Professor of Practice in Music Education, presented two research studies at the American Educational Research Association Conference in Vancouver, Canada, this past April. One study investigated music teacher identity, the other, a collaboration with faculty from Missouri State University and Kansas State University, reported the effects of budget cutbacks on music teacher staffing in Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri. Bazan also presented a research poster collaboration with faculty from UCLA on the use of informal musicianship during teacher education, and a research paper on innovative music field experiences at the Biennial World Conference of the International Society for Music Education in Thessaloniki, Greece, during July.
Alisa Belflower, Coordinator of Musical Theatre Studies, produced and directed the staged reading of “Big Red Sun,” a musical composed by Georgia Stitt with book and lyrics by John Jiler. The musical in development won the Harold Arlen Award from ASCAP and a National Association of Musical Theatre selection. Belflower is regional governor-elect of the West Central Region of the National Association of the Teachers of Singing. She has also been selected by internationally celebrated composer of opera and musical theatre Michael John LaChiusa to archive his compositions for the stage.
Anthony Bushard, Associate Professor of Music History, presented a paper titled "Making Connections: Benny Carter's Kansas City Suite and Contemporary Jazz History Pedagogy" at the Great Plains Meeting of the College Music Society in Decorah, Iowa, in March and at the Leeds International Jazz Education Conference, Leeds College of Music, Leeds, England, also in March. In addition, Bushard was invited to be part of a panel of jazz historians for a plenary session at the Leeds International Jazz Education Conference titled "The Relevance of Jazz History in Twenty-First Century Jazz Practice and Pedagogy" where he spoke and answered questions about my research and the integral role jazz history plays in the jazz studies program at UNL.
Eddie Dominguez, Associate Professor of Art, has a 30-year retrospective of his work at the Roswell Art Museum in Roswell, N.M. “Eddie Dominguez: Where Edges Meet” is on display through May 2013.
Rhonda Garelick, Professor of English with a special joint appointment in the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts, published an article about French fashion designer Thierry Mugler in the May 2012 issue of the Paris-based international journal Art Press.
Michael Hoff, Hixson-Lied Professor of Art History, led an archeological team that discovered a large, Roman mosaic in southern Turkey this summer. The news was featured in Live Science, the New York Times, and many other national publications.
Stanley V. Kleppinger, Associate Professor of Music Theory, saw his work on Aaron Copland and pitch centricity published in three academic journals during the 2011-2012 academic year. "The Structure and Genesis of Copland’s Quiet City" appeared in twentieth-century music (published by Cambridge University Press), and "Copland’s Fifths and Their Structural Role in the Sonata for Violin and Piano" was published in Music Theory Online (published by the Society for Music Theory). The journal Theory and Practice published "Reconsidering Pitch Centricity" in the spring. Kleppinger presented a paper extending this research, "Spontaneous Apprehension of Pitch Centricity," at the annual conference of Music Theory Midwest at the University of Michigan in May 2012.
Karen Kunc, Cather Professor of Art, created an edition of 100 prints for the Rochester Print Club in New York. In conjunction with this, she will be a visiting artist to demonstrate her process and exhibit her prints in a three-person exhibition, “Force of Invention: Sublime Worlds” at the Davis Gallery at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, N.Y. Kunc’s work has been accepted for the prestigious 2012 International Print Triennial MTG in Krakow, Poland, with the works traveling to MTG Katowice, Poland; MTG Oldenburg, Germany; and MTG Falun, Sweden, through 2014. Kunc is the juror for the 2012 Pacific Biennial National Print Exhibition, sponsored by the University of Hawai’I at Hilo, which opens in December. She will travel there in November to select the awards, present a lecture and create a print as an artist-in-residence. Kunc presented a lecture and demonstrated her printing as a visiting artist at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth in October.
David C. Neely, Associate Professor of Violin, was invited to return for the Summer 2012 ORFEO International Music Festival in Vipiteno, Italy, July 6-23. This was his second season performing at the festival. He performed works by Brockway, Kreisler, Schubert and Strauss in addition to giving a violin master class. Neely, along with Professor of Viola Clark Potter, presented a juried session on “Violin and Viola Duets” at the 2012 National American String Teachers Association Convention on March 22. Neely is also in the final production stages of his new CD recording “The Violin Sonatas of Harry Redman and Clara Rogers” with Albany Records of New York.
Jamie Reimer, Assistant Professor of Voice, presented a lecture, “Heart vs. Head: The implications of register sensation on the characterization of Mozart’s women in Le nozze di Figaro,” at the International Symposium for Performance Science in Toronto, Ontario. This was a collaborative proposal with Professor of Voice Donna Harler-Smith. Reimer also presented a lecture-recital titled “Robert Owens sets Langston Hughes” at the National Association of Teachers of Singing West Central Regional Conference in Hays, Ks. In February, she presented the invited lecture-recital titled “Robert Owens: A Life in Song” at the 2012 African American Song Alliance international conference at the University of California-Irvine.
John W. Richmond, Professor and Director of the School of Music, published “The Sociology and Policy of Ensembles” in the new Oxford Music Education Handbook, Vol. 1, edited by Gary E. McPherson and Graham F. Welch (New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, 2012). He was re-elected to a second three-year term on the Commission on Accreditation of the National Association of Schools of Music and also represented the UNL School of Music at the annual meeting of the National Association of Music Executives at State Universities (NAMESU) in Washington, D.C., in September.
Francisco Souto, Associate Professor of Art, has an exhibition of new work titled “Ecos de la Memoria (Memory Echoes)” on display at Keichel Fine Art in Lincoln through Nov. 23.
Pamela Starr, Professor of Music History, and Jamie Reimer, Assistant Professor of Voice, recently published an article in Sigma Alpha Iota’s Pan Pipes, chronicling the activities of UNL’s Kappa Chapter of SAI in restoring the extensive music library of Lincoln Public Schools to the shelves of its new music library, following the devastating fire that destroyed the LPS headquarters in 2011.
Paul Steger, Professor and Director of the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film, directed “The Comedy of Errors” for the Houston Shakespeare Festival in August.
Alison Stewart, Professor of Art History, had two recent articles published. “Feasting and Drinking: Proverbs in Early Sixteenth-Century Woodcut Illustrations” was published in Formelhaftigkeit in Text und Bild in 2012. “Sebald Beham: Entrepreneur, Printmaker, Painter,” was published in the Journal of the Historians of Netherlandish Art, an online, peer-reviewed journal. The article is available as a pdf here: go.unl.edu/sebaldbeham.
Hans Sturm, Assistant Professor of Double Bass and Jazz Studies, coached the first double bass quartet to attend the School of Music’s Chamber Music Institute in June. The group’s members came from Nebraska, Kansas, Virginia and Texas. They performed Frank Proto’s seminal Double Bass Quartet. Sturm served as a guest artist-teacher at the 3rd Annual Kansas City Bass Workshop, where he performed solo, jazz and chamber music recitals and taught more than 50 students from Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Indiana, Ohio and Texas. He performed on two concerts at Lincoln’s Jazz on the Green Summer Festival, with the Darryl White/Bobby Watson Group and the UNL Faculty Jazz Septet with guest vocalist Jackie Allen. Sturm performed a chamber music concert with two international guests (from Czechoslovakia and Germany) at the 2012 International Clarinet Association Festival in August. He also performed a recital with UNL Lecturer Tom Larson, gave masterclasses and was featured on an evening of jazz at BASS2012 at the Royal Opera House in Copenhagen, Denmark, the 3rd biennial bass convention hosted by the European Bass Society. Sturm recorded Francois Rabbath’s Concerto #2, accompanied by his son, Sylvain Rabbath, at Studio Davout in Paris. He also recorded original jazz works with Larson on the same session.
Sandy Veneziano, Assistant Professor of Theatre and Film, is serving as production designer for the new Alexander Payne movie, titled “Nebraska,” filming in the area this fall. Four students and alumni from the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film are also working on the project: Jacob Heger (B.F.A. 2009, M.F.A. 2012), Benito Sanchez (B.F.A. senior), Rudy Jansen (B.F.A. senior) and Jake Denney (B.A. 2012). Filming continues through November.
The Chiara String Quartet (Rebecca Fischer and Julie Yoon, violins; Jonah Sirota, viola; and Gregory Beaver, cello) had a five-day residency with the University Musical Society in October in Ann Arbor, Mich. They also played at a Toyota factory, visited music programs and youth orchestras in Ann Arbor and Detroit, and performed a “pop-up” concert in a downtown Ann Arbor storefront. In November they return to Harvard University for the second week of their fifth year as Blodgett Artists-in-Residence. They will also play at the Boston Conservatory’s New Music Festival: Focus Under 40, featuring four works written for them.
The University of Nebraska Brass Quintet (Darryl White and K. Craig Bircher, trumpet; Alan Mattingly, horn; Scott Anderson, trombone; and Craig Fuller, tuba) performed a recital at the Omaha Chamber Music Society Summer Series on June 3. The quintet presented a program of music for harp and brass quintet featuring Mary Bircher of the Omaha Symphony on harp. The quintet also performed on the Black Hills Chamber Music Society Concert Series on Sept. 16 in Rapid City, S.D. On the same tour, the quintet presented a recital at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, S.D.
Students
Lynda Laird (D.M.A.) presented at a poster session at the CIC Music Education Conference at the University of Illinois/Urbana-Champaign in October. Her research project with other Ph.D. students and Associate Professor of Choral Music Education Rhonda Fuelberth is titled “Inclusivity: Individuals with exceptionalities and their experiences, perceptions and interactions with musical environments.” The purpose of the study is to describe the experiences, perceptions and interactions among stakeholders when students with exceptionalities are included in musical environments.
Dave Stamps (D.M.A.) has been selected to present at the Jazz Education Network (JEN) National Conference in January 2013 in Atlanta, Ga. The clinic he is presenting is titled “Do You Hear That? Effective Teaching of Music Listening Skills.”
Lucas Thallas (B.M.E.) was the winner of the 2012 John Shildneck Young Artist Solo Competition. Thallas, a trombonist, won a cash prize and a performance with the Lincoln Municipal Band. He studies with Hixson-Lied Professor of Trombone Scott Anderson.
Alumni
Lori Adams (M.F.A. Theatre 1982) is directing “Falling,” which opened in September off-Broadway at the Minetta Lane Theatre in New York City. Sets were designed by John Stark (M.F.A. Theatre 1982).
Jacob Bartlett (M.M. 2008) became Assistant Professor of Music at Peru State College this fall.
Shannon Cameron (M.F.A. Theatre 2011) was the assistant director and dramaturg for the Broadway revival of “A Streetcar Named Desire” last spring.
Jim Cantrell (B.F.A. Art 1958) has a new exhibition of watercolors, “The Barn Revisited/Vanishing Americana,” which opened Oct. 27 at the Bardstown Art Gallery in Bardstown, Ky. The exhibition continues through Dec. 15.
Greg Coffey (B.M.E. 2009) released his first CD this July. The self-titled CD is available on iTunes, cdbaby.com, Amazon or Google. He is currently living in Nashville. For more information on his music, visit gregcoffeymusic.com.
Candace Frank (B.F.A. Theatre 2007) was named one of 15 artists to watch in 2013 for her costume design work in a poll of the Best of Seattle Arts by www.seattlemet.com.
Nikki Kelly (B.A. Theatre 2012) landed a coveted Friedman Internship at the Manhattan Theatre Club in New York City and is working on the new Broadway production of “An Enemy of the People.”
Brian Kluge (M.F.A. Art 2011) was recognized as a 2012 Emerging Artist by Ceramic Monthly. He is currently in Roswell, N.M.
Brian LaDuca (M.F.A. Theatre 2008), former executive director of the Bailiwick Chicago Theatre Company and managing director of the theatre and performance studies at the University of Chicago, was hired as the new director of ArtStreet at the University of Dayton in Dayton, Ohio.
Karl Lyden (B.A. Music 2012) was accepted into the jazz studies program for trombone at New York University. He will also pursue composition in his studies.
Lauren Mabry (M.F.A. Art 2012) was chosen to complete a three-month residency this summer at the prestigious Archie Bray Foundation for Ceramic Arts. Last spring, she was nominated for 2012 Ceramics Monthly Emerging Artist.
Ellen McGovern (B.M.E. 1979) was recently crowned Mrs. Nebraska International 2012. She was featured in the SeptemberFest Parade in Omaha on Sept. 3. She is a vocal music teacher currently working toward her Masters in Music Education at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
Catherine Meier (B.F.A. Art 2005) returned to campus to present her exhibition, “Open Richness” at the Great Plains Art Museum in September.
Abby Miller (B.A. Theatre 2002) was featured in an article on collegemagazine.com on her career and her work as Ellen May on the FX series Justified. The article can be found here: go.unl.edu/abbymillercm.
Matthew Miller (B.A. and B.F.A. Theatre Arts) was promoted to Lighting and Technical Director at Hubbard Street Dance in Chicago. He was previously Lighting Director at Hubbard Street.
Derek Mosloff (B.M. 2010) landed a coveted spot in the New World Symphony this fall. The New World Symphony prepares highly gifted graduates of distinguished music programs for leadership roles in orchestras and ensembles around the world.
Joseph Mumm (B.M. 2012) was accepted into the performer’s certificate program at The Trossingen University of Music in Germany. He will pursue a certificate in solo performance and study with Professor Abbie Conant.
Lance Nielsen (Ph.D. 2011, M.M. 1998, B.S. 1991) is the new Assistant Professor of Music at Doane College this fall.
John-Mark Schlink (M.F.A. Art 2000) began his new position as Lecturer in printmaking and drawing and Director of Exhibitions at the Soeffker Gallery and Permanent Collection at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minn., in September.
Carol Ronin Thompson (M.F.A. Art 1995) has an exhibition of her paintings on display at Gallery 92 Westin Fremont, Neb., through Nov. 25.
Cliff Towner (D.M.A. 2011) is the new music director for the Atlanta Wind Symphony. He is also Director of Band Activities and Assistant Professor of Music at Georgia College and State University in Milledgeville, Ga.
Valery Wachter (B.F.A. Art 1983) had a series of flower paintings on display at the Lauritzen Gardens in Omaha in August and September.
Programs
Urban Stages in New York City presented the world premiere production of “My Occasion of Sin” by Monica Bauer on March 21. Inspired by true events that led to one of the worst race riots in the author’s birthplace of Omaha, Neb., My Occasion of Sin’s script was first developed by the Nebraska Repertory Theatre with a grant from the Hixson-Lied Endowment in 2007, as part of the Rep’s 40th anniversary season.