Creation Spring/Summer 2016

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reation Marshall University’s College of Arts and Media

Going Global

Scholarship fund helps students live, study and play abroad

{ inside } “Appalachian Dirt” Exhibit Breaks the Mold | Journalism Joins Together for Black History Month | Music Student Handcrafts Baroque Oboes

{ Dean’s Message } Welcome to Dr. Jerome Gilbert, Marshall University’s 37th president. Dr. Gilbert began his official duties on January 16, 2016, after frequent campus visits and participation from a distance in countless meetings via technology prior to taking office. When he arrived mid-January he was well versed in the vital issues facing our university.

Donald Van Horn

Dean, College of Arts and Media

Dr. Gilbert is placing a high priority on growth as an important strategy for dealing with fiscal challenges due to declining support from the state. The College of Arts and Media has a key role to play in that strategy and I look forward to working with Dr. Gilbert and the rest of the university in the coming months as we identify opportunities to afford more students the world-class education Marshall University offers.

On February 3, 2016, the College of Arts and Media celebrated our Global Horizons initiative with a dinner on the stage of the Joan C. Edwards Playhouse. We heard Dr. Gilbert speak with conviction about the importance of study abroad. Michael Rose, a music student, spoke passionately about the transformative experience he had when he traveled with the Chamber Choir on its 2012 tour in France. Dr. Joe Werthammer, Vice Dean for Clinical Affairs at Marshall’s School of Medicine, and his wife, Toby, spoke eloquently about their experiences as members of the university’s 2015 Florence Study Abroad program.

In March, Marshall’s Chamber Choir completed a 10-day concert tour in Spain. Led by Dr. David Castleberry, associate dean and director of choral activities, nearly 35 students spent spring break traveling through southern Spain making beautiful music in churches and cathedrals. Music faculty member and guitarist Dr. Júlio Alves accompanied the choir as they performed for what were reportedly very appreciative audiences.

The choir’s tour to Spain serves as a “bookend” to an ambitious year of international travel for students and faculty in the College of Arts and Media. The other “bookend” features the Marching Thunder in a performance in the 2017 New Year’s Day Parade in Rome, Italy. For the 7th consecutive year, students and faculty traveled to Florence, Italy, where they will be engaged in intense study in the epicenter of the Italian Renaissance, for four weeks during the May/June intersession. The university’s Fife and Drum Corps will travel to Paris, France, in October to perform at the La Traversière’s International Flute Convention at the Maurice Ravel Conservatory.

Global Horizons aims to provide support to students and faculty in international experiences.

While the focus is primarily on the arts and media community, our initiatives have touched the lives of students across Marshall University. Through the generosity of many friends, Global Horizons has supported well over 200 student scholarships dating back to summer 2009, when we sent our top jazz ensemble to perform at the Montreux International Jazz Festival in Switzerland. Since that tour, our students have traveled the globe for study, performances, exhibitions and internships. In 2016 alone, we will more than double the number of students from the previous year who have benefited from the visionary support of so many who share the commitment to expanding our students’ horizons.

Fostering the responsibility of world citizenship in our students is of paramount importance.

The world they will navigate as the 21st Century marches on will become smaller every day, and we must do everything we can to prepare them for the opportunities that lie ahead. I am deeply grateful to those who are partnering with us to help students meet the costs associated with travel. They – our supporters and the students – are the inspiration for the glass Global Horizons commemorative (on the cover), which we gave to Global Horizon supporters at our dinner in February.

We anticipate even more opportunities to broaden our students’ horizons in the coming years. We invite all our friends and supporters to join this ongoing journey!

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GOT NEWS? Let us know where you are and what you’re doing. We’d love to include you in an upcoming edition of Creation. creation editor | Beth Caruthers

Old Main 213, One John Marshall Drive Huntington, WV 25755 (304) 696-3296 | beth.caruthers@marshall.edu

dean | Donald Van Horn

associate dean | David Castleberry associate dean | Janet Dooley

program assistant | Teresa Holschuh business manager | Rachel Williamson student services specialist | Tammy Reynolds university relations specialist | beth caruthers marshall artists series executive director | Penny Watkins School Directors:

school of art and design | Sandra Reed school of journalism and mass communications | Janet Dooley school of music and theatre | Richard Kravchak

Creation is published by Marshall University’s College of Arts and Media Smith Hall 158, One John marshall drive Huntington, WV 25755 304-696-6433 | www.marshall.edu/cam

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C r e at i o n 2 0 1 6

Spring/Summer

{ School news }

8 { on the cover } Global Horizons Sends Students Abroad From Switzerland to Rome, from Paris to Florence, the College of Arts and Media has been committed to presenting students with travel and study abroad options by offering scholarship opportunities since 2009. Through a program titled Global Horizons, to date more than 200 students have been afforded global awareness. Read more in the Dean’s Message.

{ F E AT U R E S }

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The Art of Health

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Teaching the Finer Points

The Center for Wellness in the Arts appoints directors in part to address expected success.

How one graduate uses her gifts in music and education to impact inner city youth in Miami, Florida.

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Tracing Roots

Tamarack exhibit allows professor and former student to reconnect

Celebrating Diversity

Journalism, Carter G. Woodson Professor help make Huntington’s Black History Month celebrations a success

Handcrafting Oboes

One music student takes it upon himself to learn the art of oboe making

ALUMNI We want to hear from you!

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Events Calendar

It’s summer, but the College of Arts and Media is still at it. See what’s going on inside CAM.

Give Back

Your support makes the College of Arts and Media stronger... today and tomorrow.

The College of Arts and Media is working on an alumni video series, and we want to hear how you’ve been since your time at Marshall!

If you are interested in being considered as one of our featured alumni or would like to nominate someone, email us at cam@marshall.edu.

See a classmate online at: www.marshall.edu/cam/alumni marshall.edu/cam

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The Art of Health:

Center for Wellness in the Arts Expands, Names Directors Last year, more than 300 performing and visual arts students took part in the education, research and clinical services provided by Marshall’s Center for Wellness in the Arts.

Music and theatre students attended performance anxiety workshops, theatre students received exercise training to sword fight and simultaneously deliver Shakespearean lines, voice students were screened for vocal nodules and muscle tension dysphonia, and music students were

offered hearing assessments.

Local otolaryngologist, Dr. Joseph Touma, even provided students with ear plugs to help reduce the sound level and the risk of hearing damage for musicians.

The success of the collaboration between the College of Arts and Media and the College of Health Professions has been welcome, but a bit surprising, said Don Van Horn, dean of the College of Arts and Media.

“The Center for Wellness in the Arts has developed and matured faster than most thought it would,” said Van Horn.

“We are at a point now where the faculty who envisioned the center need to be acknowledged and encouraged to cultivate their leadership. Equally important, as the center continues to grow and gain prominence, we need to be able to direct outside inquiries to those who are in the best position to share the message about the center.”

Hunter Perry, exercise physiology graduate student, conducts a medicine ball exercise with Lukas Hagley, a journalism student who played Benvolio in “Romeo and Juliet.” Student performers were given various exercise challenges to complete during the six weeks of their performance training. Actors were made to run the hallways, lift weights and practice drills to improve hand reaction time.

This spring, four faculty members were named directors to help manage the momentum behind the center for performing and visual artists. Co-founders Nicole Perrone, associate professor of theatre, and Henning Vauth, associate professor of music, were appointed along with Karen McNealy, chair and program director of the Department of Communications Disorders, and Mark Timmons, assistant professor of athletic training.

“Nicole and Henning are the fine arts faculty who came to me and presented the concept of a Center for Wellness in the Arts. Their vision for what is possible is unlimited, and as performers themselves, they understand better than anyone what the CWA can do for our students in the short term as well as long term.”

Perrone and Vauth agreed the breadth of services now offered by the center surpass their wildest dreams.

“The continuous growth of the CWA into a comprehensive center that takes care of all aspects of artistic well-being, along with its emphasis on collaboration, is something very special and unique,” Vauth said.

Perrone, one of the state’s only certified teachers of the Alexander Technique, said she is most interested in students overcoming tension and anxiety that hinders their performances.

“I’m really excited about the work that I’m doing with Dr. Liz Casey in Health Services to help combat that performance anxiety,” Perrone said.

McNealy said it isn’t just the artists who are benefiting from the center.

“Oftentimes we are at the point where we work with disorders after they happen,” McNealy said. “The awareness that there are prevention strategies for the body and that people have control over issues they might develop, whether it’s hearing, voice, physical movement, psychology, is powerful for my students.”

National Athletic Trainers’ Association has identified performing arts medicine as an area of growth for the athletic training profession, according to Timmons.

“The CWA provides an opportunity for entry-level athletic training students to gain exposure to the performing arts and for graduate students to gain significant experience working with the performing artist,” Timmons said. “These opportunities are points of distinction for Marshall’s Athletic Training program, and it’s something very few schools can offer their students.”

“We have a responsibility to our students to engender in each one a commitment to better health and wellness,” said Van Horn.

About the Directors Perrone, an associate professor of theatre at Marshall, said she discovered health and wellness in the arts while an acting student at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York. She has appeared in many Nicole Perrone commercials, industrials, television shows and films.

Perrone is an ATI-certified teacher of the Alexander Technique.

Vauth, an associate professor of music at Marshall, has performed at venues in the United States and in Europe, such as Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center in New York, the Konzerthaus in Berlin, and Salle Cortot in Paris. He Henning Vauth holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music.

McNealy holds an undergraduate degree in Speech and Hearing from Marshall University, a master’s degree in Audiology from the University of Tennessee and she completed her doctoral degree in Audiology at Salus Karen McNealy University. Chair and Program Director of the Department of Communication Disorders, she teaches courses in audiology, aural rehabilitation and speech science.

Prior to his position at Marshall, Timmons, an assistant professor of athletic training, worked as an athletic trainer for the University of Chicago before attending University of Michigan to receive his master’s in kinesiology. He also Mark Timmons served as faculty at University of Toledo where he received his Ph.D. in exercise science.

Above: Violinist Jay Zhou suffered from tendonitis and believed he might not play again until treatment from the Center for Wellness in the Arts. Shown, images of Zhou’s shoulder are taken to determine treatment. Below: Tim Woda is shown holding a 25lb weight while moving over hurdles to train for his role as Romeo in Theatre’s Spring production of “Romeo and Juliet.”

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Alumni Spotlight

Teaching the Finer Points Molly Lynn Page, a musician, educator and adventurer, strives to make a community impact wherever life takes her

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o taller than a walking stick, Kanawha County, West Virginia, native Molly Lynn Page, was already singing regularly in church.

“From a very young age I would dance and sing around my house. My parents enrolled me in dance classes as soon I was old enough.” Soon, she was begging her parents for piano lessons.

By Grade 5, she planned to parlay the experience to show choir. “My mom thought it would be too expensive because of all the trips, so I asked if I could sign up for strings instead,” Page said. “I always loved the sound of strings, but until that day I’d never thought about playing one.” The next year, Page packed a rented violin along with her to play in the West Virginia Youth Symphony.

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Today, the 2015 Marshall grad and Frost School of Music’s Master of Music Education candidate instructs inner city children in Miami, Florida’s Coconut Grove at a elementary school and community center for at-risk youth. She plays on her 1870 violin by Francois Caussin—with the one-piece, quarter cut maple back and high arching characteristic reminiscent of a Duke London.

“I tell all of my students it’s my baby.”

It was about that time that a passion to teach also became clear; Page could often be found reciting spelling words and demonstrating cursive to her neighbor peers on a box that is still tucked away in her parent’s garage.

Pine Villa Elementary School sits directly behind Mays Conservatory of the Arts, a magnet school for 6-12th graders. After school, Page teaches at The Barnyard, a community center for children ages 5-12.

The programs are facilitated by Frost’s Donna E. Shalala MusicReach Program.

“With this program, we can give students the tools to audition to go to this school, which will improve their likeliness of graduating from high school and even going to college. That’s something these students sometimes have trouble imagining.”

Top: Page actively sought opportunities to perform while an undergrad at Marshall. Bottom: Tyler Childers & The Food Stamps, featuring Tyler Childers, Molly Lynn Page, Rod Elkins, James Barker and Craig Burletic, made their NPR Mountain Stage Debut in 2015 following Page’s graduation from Marshall.

In addition to the instruction she provides to them, Page said she learns from her students. “I learn a lot from my students, and I think that’s one of the greatest parts—they make me a better teacher.

Molly Lynn Page instructs at-risk youth in grades 3-5 at The Barnyard, a community center in Miami, Florida. She works here and at a local elementary school through the Frost School of Music’s MusicReach Program.

“They come to me with no knowledge of the violin, viola, cello or bass and I can watch them grow.”

Page gives her own teachers, or mentors, much credit for getting her to where she is today. Colleen Tan was the orchestra director at Page’s middle school and instructed her on violin during high school, and prepared her for higher education. As a first generation college goer, Page relied on Tan to help guide her through the application process.

When she began at Marshall in 2010, Page studied violin under Dr. Elizabeth Reed Smith while double majoring in music education and performance. “Dr. Smith was an amazing mentor. I, as well as all of her

students, knew that she cared about us both in and out of the studio.”

Conference of American String Teachers Association in Tampa, Florida in March.

Smith saw something special in Page, too.

“Molly has a delightful combination of a cheerful disposition, good work ethic, and a spirit of adventure,” Smith said.

Page’s plans for the future aren’t much different from what she does day-to-day with the children in Coconut Grove; She hopes to teach strings full-time one day.

She is also considering a doctorate in Music, but she won’t commit to that until she gains more public school experience.

That spirit led Page all the way to Salzburg, Austria, during her travels abroad through the Kentucky Institute for International Studies, to an NPR Mountain Stage debut in Charleston, West Virginia, just weeks following graduation, and more recently, to playing alongside Jeremy Kittel, famous alternative styles violinist, during a multilevel eclectic masterclass at the National

Wherever this life takes Molly Lynn Page, she envisions always being involved in making a difference.

“I hope that wherever I end up, I can continue to do work in community outreach.”

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School of Art and Design Synergy is a word that is on my mind these days.

Synergy is cooperative action that results in an outcome greater than any of its parts; it is compounded benefit. This is what I see happening when students Sandra Reed fuse learning from Director courses outside of School of Art and Design their emphasis within capstone projects; the School exhibits middle and high school artists’ winning works recognized by the Huntington Museum of Art’s Portfolio competition; faculty and students team up with colleagues in the Anthropology and Sustainability programs; community members join our annual trip to New York City; or we partner with organizations such as Arrowmont in Tennesee and Chautauqua in New York, to support summer residencies for our students.

With the donations of an Orco loom and traditional photographic equipment from community members alongside purchase of a Makerbot Replicator 3D printer, the “old” synergistically informs the “new” in the visual art programs. The first thing that the graphic design students printed with the Makerbot was a miniature coffee table; coincidentally, it was the same day that students in a special topics Furniture course presented their original coffee tables for mid-term critiques. This was continued by Brian Giniewski, our Spring 2016 Joan C. Edwards Distinguished Professor in the Fine Arts, who demonstrated the operation of his homemade 3D ceramic printer – and brought parts for the School to make its own!

Professors Hayson Harrison (graphic design) and Peter Massing (printmaking) completed artist residencies at the Seacourt Center for Contemporary Printmaking in Bangor, County Down, North Ireland, UK for their sabbaticals, and are preparing to teach a special topics course in Fall 2016 that explores the interplay between text and image. Back home in Huntington, during his sabbatical, Professor Cox learned digital carving processes to use in his own work and to teach to students; he also completed, “New Life,” an ambitious public sculpture in stainless steel and marble, for the Charleston Area Medical Center’s Cancer Center.

We say farewell to Megan Schultz, who was the first full-time Gallery Director at Marshall. She is returning to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she studied and first worked in university and gallery environments.

Megan implemented an ambitious exhibition program featuring student work and professional work of faculty and other renowned artists. She oversaw our first Art Leases and was passionate in creating opportunities for exhibiting artists to engage with students. She will be sorely missed, and we are grateful for her contributions to our first years in the Visual Arts Center.

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“Interference” by Amy Sinbondit | Earthenware, glaze

Visual Arts Center Exhibit Sheds Light on Variety in Ceramics Titled “Appalachian Dirt” and featuring work from more than 20 ceramists from West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky, a new exhibition up at Marshall’s Visual Arts Center aims to break the mold on the thought that ceramics is limited to pottery alone. “‘Appalachian Dirt’ shows the breadth of how contemporary ceramists are working and, in particular, highlights how ceramists in our region are working with the medium,” said Frederick Bartolovic, associate It’s a feisty professor of and very ceramics at Marshall. contemporary

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show.

-Courtney Childers Ceramics Graduate

”

“In this way my hope is that the exhibition will showcase a variety of visual explorations within the

medium of clay.”

Pieces in the show range from mere inches to a 13-foot wall installation titled “Big Wind” by Bob Shay.

“It’s a feisty and very contemporary show,” said Courtney Childers, a recent graduate from the ceramics program at Marshall. “There are pieces such as a Hellenistic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle

by Brett Kern, a whiskey jug with Donald Trump’s face stenciled on it by Frederick Bartolovic, a felt and ceramic installation

by Alex Hibbitt, and a ceramic airplane with ‘grabber green’ wings by Mike Bowen.”

Childers spearheaded the planning and execution of “Appalachian Dirt” with the assistance of Bartolovic and Megan Schultz, gallery director for Marshall’s School of Art and Design.

The exhibition will be on display to the public at Marshall’s Visual Arts Center, 927 Third Ave. in Huntington, until July 22.

Tracing Roots:

Graduate and Professor Featured in Tamarack’s ‘Continuum’ When Professor Mary Grassell was selected

by Tamarack to exhibit alongside a former student, she knew it would be Brian Jarrell.

“As a student, Brian was curious, asked a lot of questions, always wanted to discuss art and design, and asked how he could get better,” Grassell said. “His drawing skill was extraordinary as a student. I saw that long ago. Now, he is a well-known designer.”

Jarrell, a ’93 graduate with an emphasis in graphic design, said the invitation from Grassell and relationship with his former professor are invaluable.

“It’s an honor to be asked by Mary, a professor from so many years ago,” Jarrell said. “We’ve kept in contact and always had a friendship and relationship built around the years I spent at Marshall.”

Titled Continuum, the exhibition on display at Tamarack’s David L. Dickirson Fine Arts Gallery in spring 2016 celebrated the enduring connection between mentor and student with specific focus on collegiate art departments in West Virginia, according to Molly Halstead Baker, gallery manager at Tamarack.

“We felt it was important to highlight the relationship between educator and student because it is through this relationship that the practice and appreciation of art endures throughout the ages,” Baker said. “The six featured professors (and their colleagues, too) have dedicated their time and energies into cultivating future generations of creators.

We are grateful to them for keeping this ‘continuum’ in motion and are honored to present their work alongside their talented former students, who have also invested

significant energies in their own artistic growth.”

Grassell said the best thing she can teach students is to trust their unique feelings and ideas, and to set good examples of serious practice and curiosity art.

“I share my current work with my students to let them know, that like them I am working in the field, and that art plays an important part of my life, hoping that the interest and enthusiasm is evident to them.”

“I treat my artwork as my second job. It’s definitely not a hobby,” Jarrell said. “It’s how I see life; it’s how I see everything and everyone that I come across. I see it as a drawing or sketch or artwork. It’s something I have to do. It’s part of who I am.”

Top: Professor of Graphic Design Mary Grassell stands alongside Danville, West Virginia native and ‘93 graduate, Brian Jarrell, at the Continuum exhibition at the Tamarack in Spring 2016. Top Right: One of Professor Mary Grassell’s submitted artworks for Continuum, “The Finch Feeder,” (18” x 24”) is a color woodblock print on Hosho handmade paper. Bottom Right: “High Alert,” a 10.25” x 8.25” ballpoint on moleskin work by Brian Jarrell, was among the artists’ exhibited pieces.

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School of Journalism and Mass Communications In this ever-changing world, substantial curriculum revision is sometimes a necessity.

For all of its messy machinations, it is curriculum revision that maintains currency of programs and classes. We engaged in a yearlong process of reflection and revision to respond to transformations in 21st Century mass media Janet Dooley practices. While essential Director, W. Page Pitt School writing, message generation of Journalism and Mass and content creation remain Communications rooted in traditional mass communications, that which is new shapes curriculum.

SOJMC Plays Integral Part in City’s Black History Month Celebrations

As we consider curriculum revisions, we have been guided by several objectives. First is realigning majors to match industry realities and to reflect a 21st Century media landscape. Three majors will house all mass communications instruction. The lines that define the advertising field and the public relations field are less distinct, so the formation of an ad/pr major is natural. There are still occasions to prepare an advertisement and practitioners still write news releases, but those and many other tasks are merging under a “strategic communications” umbrella.

Similarly, adjectives categorizing journalists as print, broadcast and online are blurred. There are journalists who are employed by broadcast organizations, but those reporters file print stories and pull still shots from videos. Print journalists find themselves editing video for their online editions. Under the moniker of journalism students will practice varied overlapping reporting jobs.

Media studies/production will contain the radio/television production and management emphasis as well as the new video production program, and allow for expansion as new needs emerge.

The second objective guiding curriculum revision is to compel multimedia messaging to permeate all majors.

Because technologies used to produce mass communications are consolidating, every student in the School of Journalism and Mass Communications must be proficient in basic multimedia applications. Those skills may be applied differently to a broadcast news story or to a public relations event promotion, but it is an expectation of every graduate.

The third objective is to equip students with adaptability.

What graduates will encounter ten years from now probably doesn’t exist yet. Media jobs are growing inside non-media organizations and mass communications skills will not be concentrated only in traditional news organizations.

Technology will continue to expand. Clean writing, design that helps communicate, and analytical and problem-solving skills will prepare graduates to move in unexpected directions.

Curriculum change isn’t a matter of tweaking and adjusting.

It’s arduous self-examination guided by overarching purposes. Established models that have been effective are examined to identify what needs to be maintained, what needs to be expanded and what needs to be eliminated.

Faculty find themselves working with different schedules and updated content. Students find themselves prepared for a modern workplace.

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SOJMC students Sage Shavers, Lillie Bodie and Imani Spradley join Burnis R. Morris, the Dr. Carter G. Woodson Professor; Robert Rabe, associate professor; Janet Dooley, associate dean of the College of Arts and Media and director of the SOJMC; Dan Hollis, professor; and students Andrew Harrison and Marquez Davila, at Huntington’s first Black History Month celebration of 2016 on Marshall’s campus.

The W. Page Pitt School of Journalism and Mass Communications played a central role in making the region’s 2016 Black History Month commemoration one of the most successful in the 90-year history of honoring black contributions in America. For the first time, the observance included a long overdue theme: recognition of the Father of Black History’s Huntington ties.

The observance was a year in the making. During a February 2015 Black History Month luncheon, which was a planning session to re-establish historian Carter G. Woodson’s connections to the city, influential members of the Marshall University and Huntington communities – including the mayor, a city council member, a school board member, black pastors, scholars and students

– resolved to reintroduce Woodson as a hometown hero who got his start in Huntington before becoming the Father of Black History. Woodson began the celebration of Negro History Week in 1926, and it was expanded to a month in the 1970s.

He was a graduate of the former Douglass School (1896) and began serving as its principal just four years following his graduation. After he left Huntington, he began a journey that led him to leadership of the Modern Black History Movement, and he became an international scholar, newspaper columnist and advocate of improving education. Although his family helped build the city and he remained a property owner here long after he moved to Washington, D. C., Woodson’s Huntington years are unknown to most local residents.

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What’s Playing on WMUL-FM? Title: Newscenter 88 When: 5 p.m., Monday through Friday What: News in the entire Tri-State, not just the Marshall and Huntington communities Title: Making Contact When: 5:30 p.m., Mondays What: Subjects from the environment and women’s issues, to racial justice and reproductive health and justice. A weekly award-winning program produced by the

National Radio Project based in Oakland, California, the magazine/documentarystyle program features voices not generally heard in other venues.

of the planet and its people. New World Notes examines political and social issues from a progressive prospective and with humor.

Title: The Bioneers and New World Notes When: Back-to-back at 9 a.m., Fridays What: The Bioneers, produced by Collective Heritage Institute/Bioneers, focuses on environmental and social justice and innovative solutions to issues

Title: FM 88 Sports When: 6-10 p.m., Wednesdays What: Dedicated to sports-talk programming, FM 88 Sports features Marshall football, men’s and women’s basketball and soccer, volleyball, baseball and softball games.

WMUL Offers Diverse Programming Operating out of the W. Page Pitt School of Journalism and Mass Communications, WMUL-FM broadcasts 24/7/365. The award-winning tradition of Marshall University’s campus radio station is well established, but a detailed look will reveal why these students are bringing home numerous trophies.

help of callers and social media users.

“We love the variety of music we play because it’s different from the commercial alternatives in the area, but we take a lot of pride in the quality of our original programming as well,” said Adam Rogers, WMUL-FM executive director.

“Without our dedicated staff we wouldn’t be able to do half the programming we currently do,” Rogers said. “Our student and community volunteers are the lifeblood to what we do here every year. From writing and producing our daily Newscenter 88 newscasts and covering various events on campus to calling Marshall Athletic events and attending recruitment meetings, our staff spends countless hours working to provide a great product for our listening audience.”

News stories on WMUL-FM are generated, reported, edited and announced by Marshall University students.

“Our public affairs programming is one of the most important things we do,” Rogers said. “It’s our responsibility to let our listeners know what issues are taking place in their neighborhoods and city.”

In addition to original public affairs programming, WMUL-FM also broadcasts three nationally syndicated public affairs programs and an innovated venture that simulcasts boys and girls high school basketball called “Basketball Friday Night in West Virginia.” The latter includes the

WMUL-FM’s staff is entirely composed of students and local community volunteers, who DJ, write and produce news and sports reports and produce original promotional and public service announcements.

WMUL-FM has won over 1,500 awards since 1985 in local, state and national competitions, while competing against both student and professional broadcasters.

Most of WMUL-FM’s awards have come from its news, sports and public affairs programming. Alternative, blues, jazz, urban and gospel music, sports, news and public affairs programming all come together to make WMUL the “Cutting Edge.”

About WMUL Approaching its 55th anniversary, WMUL-FM has been providing the Huntington-Tri-State community with “cutting edge” music and a menu of original news, sports and public affairs programming, as well as nationally syndicated public affairs programming since becoming the first non-commercial radio station in West Virginia. It began as a 10-watt station on November 1, 1961 that was barely picked up on the Huntington campus, but now it broadcasts to the Tri-State area with a 1,500-watt antenna and streams all programming online.

WMUL-FM can be accessed by tuning to 88.1 FM or via the web at www.marshall.edu/wmul.

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School of Music and Theatre The majority of our 200 annual performances take place during the spring semester, so it is rare that a day goes by without at least one performance taking place on campus.

In addition, we engage in significant community Richard Kravchak outreach activities.

Director Theatre, ETC! takes School of Music and Theatre quality theatre to public school children within a 50-mile radius of Marshall. By the end of the spring semester, we had presented 14 performances of Ray Bradbury’s stage play version of “Fahrenheit 451.” Last semester, Dr. Vicki Stroeher, professor of musicology, presented monthly “MUsic Mondays” lectures at The Cellar Door in downtown Huntington. Our Chamber Choir, under the direction of David Castleberry, undertook a 10-day concert tour of southern Spain in March. Our Global Horizons fund helps to makes these international travel/study opportunities possible. Last year, Theatre Program Director Jack Cirillo accompanied a group of students on a study tour of London during spring break. Later this year, Music Program Director, Wendell Dobbs will lead our Fife and Drum Corps on a performance trip to Paris, and Director of Athletic Bands Dr. Adam Dalton, will accompany the Marching Thunder to Rome, Italy, where they will march in the New Year’s 2017 parade at the invitation of the Mayor of Rome. We are extremely pleased to be able to present these often lifechanging opportunities to our students.

This year alone we have welcomed a number of internationally recognized artists to our campus to perform and present workshops for our students.

While the number of guest artists from around the world are too numerous to name, one of our highlights was welcoming the Blue Man Group to the Huntington campus. They presented a mini performance and workshop for our music and theatre students in early March. For many of our students, this was perhaps a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work directly with performing artists of this caliber and international reputation.

Visiting Assistant Professor of Jazz Jesse Nolan, made this workshop possible. Professor Nolan, before he joined the faculty here at Marshall in the fall, was the resident music director of the Blue Man Group for five years.

Finally, in July we will be hosting the second annual ReedX2 festival. This intensive, one-week workshop features retired New York Philharmonic English horn soloist Tom Stacy and attracts students of all ages from across the United States to our campus.

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Love for Film Leads Determined Musician to Study Composition From the beginning, Anthony Almendarez didn’t have it easy. Born nearly two months early to immigrants from Central America, the LA-based “frijolito,” as his grandmother endearingly called him, turned to film.

“When I was young, I used to watch a lot of films. Today I look back and realize how much film impacted my life.” Now, fresh out of Marshall with a master’s degree in Anthony Almendarez Music Composition and Theory, he wants to one day work to combine visual and audio arts.

But film wasn’t always in his best interest, and his surroundings didn’t help. “I used to watch many films from Mexican/American filmmakers. Although the films are meant to reflect and accept their culture, as a child, it only glorified gangs for me, so I started to go into that gang culture. I never joined one—I was always an outsider—but I liked the idea of having friends to back me up when I needed it, especially in such an aggressive environment.”

Then there was the lack of encouragement and sometimes outright discouragement from his teachers. “I even had my career counselor tell me I wouldn’t graduate, and that’s the one thing that really pushed me to graduate—I wanted to prove them wrong.”

“But I never thought I was going to go to college,” Almendarez said.

After high school, he thought his only way out of LA was to join the military, but music, and Dr. Richard Kravchak, showed him another way. Kravchak, who had worked with Almendarez at his Canoga Park High School, was then working at California State University Dominguez Hills. He convinced Almendarez to apply to the university, and Almendarez received

his B.A. in Music Education in 2012.

Almendarez quickly became disheartened by music education—it wasn’t his calling.

Temporarily defeated, he moved in with his dad in Texas, where he began working at a Toshiba factory. “I kept telling myself, ‘well, I kind of failed.’ But I kept playing the trumpet and kept asking myself what inspired me.

“I realized watching film and hearing the music was what inspired me to join music.

I thought it was just gorgeous to hear all these different emotions being conveyed though music.”

Almendarez began composing music while he worked at the factory, took private lessons and eventually applied to Marshall with Kravchak’s help. Just before graduation in 2015, he composed original music for Theatre’s production of “Romeo and Juliet.”

He hopes to continue his education and to receive a doctoral degree, then he’d like to start a production company with his brother, Francis. The company’s aim would be to illustrate different cultures and identities that are found within the U.S. “We want to produce stories that aren’t often told and to create a new side, a new voice, to the conflicts that are happening.”

Since his humble beginnings, works

by Almendarez have been performed at various festivals, including the West Fork New Music Festival, the Marshall Composer Series, the Marshall New Music Festival and the Society of Composers Inc. Region III Conference of New Music.

Current works include a collaborative dance with the Florida School of the Arts and an electro-acoustic work with the Summer Institute for Performance, Listening, Interpretation and Creation of Electroacoustic music (SPLICE).

Picnic

By William Inge

7:30 p.m. • Sept. 28 Oct. 1 & Oct. 6-8 Francis-Booth Experimental Theatre

Student Adds Oboe Making to Repertoire Upon picking up his first Baroque oboe, Eric Caines, now a senior at Marshall, had an idea. “I always thought they were so interesting and intricate, so I thought, ‘maybe I can make one of those.’”

things that the other makers won’t.” Then in Spring 2016, one of the two prolific Baroque oboe makers left in the United States, Harry Vas Dias, agreed to let Caines work in his Georgia shop.

About two years ago, he purchased some expensive wood and a mini lathe from eBay, set it up in his bathroom and started crafting. He learned a lot, mostly that he had a lot more to learn, but he made progress and bought some cheaper woods—ebonized cherry and maple.

Today, Caines is crafting instruments out of boxwood and says he finds a certain satisfaction in the process. “In making copies of Denner and Eichentopf oboes, I realized that each maker put his own spin on the outer turnings. Now I’m adding my own to that.”

“My goal, and I didn’t even realize this was a thing at this point, was to play music written for a particular instrument on that instrument, and that’s what’s called historically informed performance.”

“I always thought that I would be a college professor playing a modern oboe in an orchestra somewhere. This venture has shown me that there are other avenues to take if I wish to pursue them.”

Caines admits that his thought in the beginning was that handcrafting his own instruments would be cheaper, but he quickly found, with the machinery and all the tools, were quite expensive. He soon realized he was missing an essential component that he couldn’t craft at home, reamers. That’s when Dean Don Van Horn set Caines up with Rick Smoot, an instructor in the Robert C. Byrd Institute for Advanced Flexible Manufacturing’s Machinist Technology Program, to help Caines fabricate the reamers he needed.

In addition to Smoot’s help, Caines accompanied Dr. Richard Kravchak on a trip to see Philadelphia-based Geoffrey Burgess, who provided him with plans.

“Geoffrey Burgess literally wrote the book on Baroque oboe, and he gave me all the

A Christmas Carol

By Charles Dickens Adapted by Romulus Linney

7:30 p.m. • Nov. 16-19 The Joan C. Edwards Playhouse

The Huntington Nutcracker

Story by E.T.A. Hoffman and Alexandre Dumas Music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky Presented by Huntington Dance Theatre and Marshall University Theatre

8 p.m. • Dec. 9-10 2 p.m. • Dec. 11

Circle Mirror Transformation

By Annie Baker

7:30 p.m. • Feb.15-18 7:30 p.m. • Feb. 23-25 Francis-Booth Experimental Theatre

Guys & Dolls

Music, Lyrics by Frank Loesser Book by Abe Burrows and Jo Swerling

7:30 p.m. • April 19-22, 2 p.m. • April 23 The Joan C. Edwards Playhouse

Single Show Tickets:

$20 at the door | $15 MU Faculty and Seniors Marshall students admitted FREE with a valid ID Marshall Theatre Box Office 304-696-ARTS (2787)

Season Tickets Available

For more information visit www.marshall.edu/theatre

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Continued from page 10

Black History Month Celebrations Dr. Alan Gould, executive director of The John Deaver Drinko Academy, adopted the reintroduction project as one of the academy’s major causes, and Huntington Mayor Steve Williams threw down the gauntlet to lead the fight to reclaim Woodson’s early years. The phrase “We should own it” became a rallying cry for action among members of the Steering Committee, which included Burnis R. Morris, the Dr. Carter G. Woodson Professor of Journalism and Mass Communications.

Twelve months later, the reintroduction took place, and SOJMC had a highly visible role in the observance and reintroduction

14 | college of arts and media

of Woodson to Huntington. Sandy York, assistant professor of journalism and Parthenon adviser, designed the Woodson poster and program handouts. The first ceremony of the month took place on the Huntington campus, where Mayor Williams declared Dec. 5 as “Dr. Carter G. Woodson Day.” At that event, Dr. Jerome Gilbert pledged himself to Dr. Woodson’s ideals; Morris updated the community on Woodson’s biography; State Sen. Robert Plymale and Del. Sean Hornbuckle read legislative proclamations and offered personal statements honoring Woodson; Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin, U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin and U.S. Rep. Evan Jenkins sent representatives who also read proclamations and statements. Jenkins

and Manchin had statements put in the Congressional Record. SOJMC students Lillie Bodie, Marquez Davila, Andrew Harrison and Imani Spradley served as goodwill ambassadors.

Williams, who created a new City Hall lecture series, asked Morris to become the city’s first lecturer in that series. Morris accepted, and his topic on Feb. 8 was Dr. Carter G. Woodson’s early years.

Marshall’s student media representatives also contributed to the program as journalists. The Parthenon covered the major events of Black History Month, and WMUL-FM, led by Dr. Charles Bailey, professor and station faculty manager, and Adam Rogers, executive director, broadcast two panel discussions it produced on Sampson Sanders’ manumission of about 50 slaves and their descendants’ return for the first time to the Cabell County area where their ancestors had been held.

Left: Journalism students Jacob Griffith and Imani Spradley interview Marshall President Jerome Gilbert on Carter G. Woodson Day. Top: Huntington Mayor Steve Williams speaks at the Carter G. Woodson Day proclamation. Bottom: Burnis R. Morris, Dr. Carter G. Woodson Professor of Journalism and Mass Communications, speaks at Huntington’s City Hall in February 2016.

events* MAY

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Appalachian Dirt

Titled “Appalachian Dirt” and featuring work from more than 20 ceramists from West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky, this exhibition at Marshall University’s Visual Arts Center aims to break the mold on the thought that ceramics is limited to pottery alone. Exhibiting Artists: Jennifer Allen, Frederick Bartolovic, Mike Bowen, Andrew Gilliatt, Seth Green, Jeff Greenham, Lauren HerzakBauman, Alex Hibbitt, Noelle Horsfield, Brett Kern, Jason Kiley, Kathleen Kneafsy, Eva Kwong, George Lanham, Joe Molinaro, Boomer Moore, Sarah Olsen, Eric Pardue, Nathan Prouty, Shoji Satake, Brad Schwieger, Robert Shay, Amy Sinbondit, Amelia Stamps, Hunter Stamps, Steve Thurston.

May 11-July 22 — M-F, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Visual Arts Center Gallery, 927 Third Ave.

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Jazz-MU-Tazz final concert

Concluding a week of practice, this final concert of Jazz-MU-Tazz is free and open to the public. Come see what high-schoolers have learned from the six-day, five-night camp.

Saturday, June 18 — 5 p.m.

Pullman Square, 220 9th Street

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Join the world-renowned faculty for a weeklong seminar for english horn players of all ages and ability levels! Sessions of the English hornists’ retreat with Thomas Stacy will include master classes on orchestral excerpts, reed making classes, solo coaching with pianist, recital performances, mock auditions and more!

Visit www.reedx2.com to register or for more information.

July 9-15 Smith Recital Hall, Marshall campus

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Marshall’s Visual Arts Center will be open late special dates this summer.

On Thursday, June 23, the gallery will be open from 6-8 p.m. during the Pullman Summer Concert Series. On Friday, June 24, the gallery will be open from 5-7 p.m. during the month’s Final Friday Art Crawl.

June 23 — 6-8 p.m.

June 24 — 5-7 p.m.

Visual Arts Center Gallery, 927 Third Ave.

Community Drawing Sessions

The community is invited to draw portrait/costumed figure subjects in the Visual Arts Center, Room 510. Participants must bring their own drawing supplies and $10 per person for admission (free with Marshall ID or TriState Arts Association membership).

July 12 & Aug. 9 — 6:30-8:30 p.m.

Visual Arts Center Gallery, 927 Third Ave.

Stay up with the latest from the Marshall University community through the School of Journalism and Mass Communications’ student media The Parthenon Marshall’s student newspaper since 1897 goes to print two days a week during the regular semester, is available online 24/7 and has a mobile app presented by USA Today. The Buzz: Marshall University is available for download in the App Store and on Google Play.

marshallparthenon.com

WMUL 88.1 FM The award-winning student broadcast voice of Marshall University, WMUL has been broadcasting in the Huntington region since Nov. 1, 1961.

marshall.edu/wmul

MU Report Marshall University’s studentproduced newscast is available online or on WVPBS every other Sunday at 12:30 p.m. and repeated at 1 p.m.

Monday during the regular semester.

youtube.com/user/HerdVideo

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Visual Arts Center extended hours

ReedX2

Huntington Area Art Society Summer Lecture Series

“A Legacy Denied: Lost Country Houses of Ireland” by Geoff Fleming, executive director, the Huntington Museum of Art, at The Cellar Door (905 Third Avenue). Cost of attendance is $10 for each presentation, payable by cash or check to MU School of Art & Design. Registration will be capped at 50 attendees per presentation. Please call (304) 696-7299 to register.

Wednesday, July 13 — 6:30 p.m.

Cellar Door, 905 Third Ave.

*information This impressive list shows only a handful of the events in the College of Arts and Media this summer and fall. Dates, times and performances are subject to change.

College of Arts and Media 304-696-6433 School of Art & Design 304-696-7299 School of Journalism & Mass Communications 304-696-2360

304-696-3326 Music Program 304-696-3117 Theatre Program (Tickets) 304-696-ARTS (2787) Or visit us online at

www.marshall.edu/cam

for the most up-to-date information.

marshall.edu/cam

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Marshall University College of Arts and Media One John Marshall Drive Huntington, WV 25755-2200 www.marshall.edu/cam

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