www.pacepress.org
April 27, 2012
Volume 63 | Issue 20
THE PACE PRESS SERVING PACE UNIVERSITY’S MANHATTAN CAMPUS SINCE 1948
University Prof. Pat Woodward passes at age 62 Woodward leaves a 40 year legacy at the University OLIVIA BETETA Arts Intern
photograph by Kirk Woodward
Performing Arts Department staff and adjunct faculty member Patricia Woodward passed away April 2 at the age of 62. Prof. Woodward received her Bachelor of Arts in Dramatic Arts from the University in 1976. As a University alumna, she began working as a secretary at the University shortly after graduating. Prof. Woodward began teaching at the University and quickly became a vital member of the University’s community. Over the 40 years Prof. Woodward spent at the University, she built a name for herself. She was known as a firecracker and it was her fiery personality that attracted so many people towards her. Chair of the Performing Arts Department, Jorge Cacheiro, remembers when he first got the job at the University a year ago. Cacheiro said, “One of the first things people asked me was have you met Pat yet? It’s because Pat had this vital life force in her and I think it is because she really loved her job.” Prof. Woodward was more than just a member of the Performing Arts Department, she was the heartbeat. Director of the BFA Acting Program, Grant Kretchik, described her as “a recruitment coordinator extraordinaire.” In addition to teaching acting classes, Prof. Woodward was in charge of recruitment, first year advisement and graduation audits. She would see students as they entered the department and as they left and she also personally knew many of the students and built relationships with them. A memorial service for Prof. Woodward was held April 9 at Central Presbyterian Church in her hometown of Montclair, N.J. In addition to her work as a professor and administrator for the Performing Arts Department, she was a member and leader of the Torchbearers Club here at the University. She was responsible for the theater group at Central Presbyterian Church and directed programs at both Montclair High School and Clifton High School. Woodward often commuted into NYC from her home in Montclair with Professors Bill Offutt and Nancy Reagin. It was on those train rides that the three had been taking together for over 10 years that a friendship emerged. Both Prof. Offutt and Prof. Reagin can attest to the pillar that Prof. Woodward was within the community not only at the University, but also in Montclair. Prof. Reagin said, “[Woodward] helped to ‘hold up the sky’ in several communities: the range of her interests, responsibilities, and friends was staggering”. Prof. Offutt felt much the same way. Prof. Offutt said, “It is hard to describe all the ways our lives intersected—taking the train together, working on advising students together, seeing her at the high school at shows she helped direct. The number of different things she was able to do—all at the same time— staggered me, as well as the quality with which she did them.” Everyone who knew Prof. Woodward discussed her amazing ability to take on vast amounts of work and somehow manage to complete it all with poise. Through her dedication to the University and the craft of acting, Prof. Woodward left a great impact both inside and outside of the University community. With her immeasurable devotion to her work, she grew to develop many relationships with students and faculty alike and she will be greatly missed. A great friend and teacher to many, Prof. Woodward was also an avid “Lord of the Rings” fan and an Anglophile. She was an incredible actress and singer and starred in many shows. She played guitar and loved to garden, but all of that comes
Woodward Memoriam continued on PAGE 5
INSIDE FOLLOW US ONLINE !
NEWS Top 10 Most Hated Companies ranked in the U.S. PAGE 2
ARTS Western inspired exhibition at quaint LES art gallery PAGE 6
Tweet us @thepacepress
FEATURES Internet start-ups dominate the market PAGE 7
“Like” The Pace Press