A Tale of Three Cities

Exploring the international impact of the study abroad program with students and faculty from the UofM’s College of Communication and Fine Arts

by Casey Hilder

Venice, Italy

OR STUDENTS LIKE SOPHOMORE CHORAL MUSIC EDUCATION MAJOR ROMAN AUSTIN, performing at locations such as St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice, Italy, was a far-flung dream before enrolling in the UofM’s study abroad program. F

“People always see pictures and videos, but it’s absolutely breathtaking to see in person,” Austin said.

Austin was among 24 members of the UofM Chamber Choir that toured Italy under the direction of associate professor of Music Education and CCFA associate dean Dr. Ryan Fisher this past summer, earning an opportunity to partake in an a cappella performance during mass at St. Mark’s Basilicia.

“It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and I originally didn’t even consider going because it was financially out of my reach,” said Austin. “But Dr. Fisher talked to some people and was able to help me pull together some funding so I didn’t miss this great opportunity.”

The choir trip was orchestrated in part through Perform International, an Atlanta-based company that specializes in overseas tourism for student musicians. According to Fisher, the initial goal of the venture was to seek out prominent performance opportunities, as well as experience Italian history and archeology. However, the greatest boon of the trip may have come when members of the choir got a chance to connect firsthand with things they had only seen in the pages of a textbook.

“We had a number of students along on the trip that had never been overseas, so it was a very eye-opening experience for the majority of them,” Fisher said.

Fisher’s group performed four pieces throughout a daily Mass ceremony at St. Mark’s Basilica (known to the locals as Basilica di San Marco), serving as openers and closers for the proceedings. In the hallowed marble halls of St. Mark’s, the choral hymns sung by Fisher’s group rang out in a fresh, new way thanks to the cathedral confines that were specifically designed to house such music 1,000 years ago.

“It’s widely considered the secondhighest profile Catholic church in the world,” said Fisher. “We also performed

Members of the UofM choir perform at St. Mark’s Basilica in northern Italy.

at St. Peter’s in Vatican City. Both masses were different, and the last one even included a few responsorial songs.”

In addition to the performance at St. Mark’s Basilica, the choir performed several times throughout the trip, including a concert at San Gaetano Church in Florence and a public performance in Rome with Coro Aramus, a local choir.

“That concert stands out to me because as we were singing some especially moving pieces, I noticed an older man in the audience weeping at the beauty,” Fisher said.

Mainz, Germany

he Department of Journalism and Strategic Media’s study abroad trip to Mainz, Germany, this past May provided a similar life-changing experience for journalism student Brandon Howard. Not only did the 19-year-old from Oakland, Tenn., get to leave the United States for the first time, it was also the first time he had ever been on a plane. So, when he arrived in Europe on May 11, his eyes were opened to a whole new world.

“Going on this trip was truly something amazing,” Howard said. “I never thought I would fly or go international until I was 25 or 30. More or less, with this trip, it felt like I was in the right place at the right time. It was in my major. My foreign language is German. And it was with one of my favorite professors. I feel blessed to have been able to do it at this time.”

Howard was part of the Department of Journalism and Strategic Media’s exchange program with Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany. The program, which is more than two decades old, has brought dozens of students from Germany to the UofM and vice versa.

The program’s goal is to connect students and professors from the two universities. This past May, professor Otis Sanford and department chair Dr. David Arant made the trip and taught a course called “Politics, the Press and Race in America.” Political science student DeeDee Noel also attended the trip. Noel, 20, who is from Memphis, said the trip changed her life just like it did for Howard.

“It was my first time on a plane, first time out of the South, first time out of the country — all happening at once,” Noel said.

Sanford and the students also visited other places in Germany, including a train trip to the capital Berlin, Cologne and Rudesheim. Mainz is a city located in a convenient part of Europe right on the Rhine River, the major river flowing through the continent.

Gutenberg University hosted at least three students at the UofM this past fall with at least three more coming in spring of 2020. The department will again send a professor and UofM students in May. Howard said it is an opportunity that no UofM student should bypass.

“I hope it is not my last trip aboard before I graduate,” Howard said. “want to go back to Germany; I want to go back to Europe. Germany was amazing. Three weeks was not enough. The place was huge. But I hope to go back for school, and maybe with my family.”

Associate professor of Journalism and Strategic Media Thomas Hrach contributed to this feature.

UofM students Brandon Howard and DeeDee Noel pose for a photo in front of the Mainz Cathedral in Mainz, Germany.

Medway, England

UofM photography students pose in front of the Tower Bridge, one of the 19th-century bridges across the River Thames, in London.

ine students from the Department of Art and the Department of Journalism and Strategic Media got an in-depth look at the history of

photography this past May when Photography instructor David Horan led a trip to the University of Kent in Medway, England, about 40 minutes southeast of London.

“We wanted to start a kind of dialogue going between those older film processes and artistic aesthetics and contemporary digital imaging,” Horan said. “Students have to understand that balance, that inter-informational dialogue that goes into the study of art.”

The group of students, which ranged from seniors to second-semester freshmen, researched several 19thcentury British photographers and landscape painters in advance of their trip. They were eager to catch a glimpse of the integration of different stylistic ideas in person through traditional art history, as well as photographic art history.

Horan, who is now entering his 35th year as an instructor at the UofM, has taken UofM students on several independent study trips to art centers around the world since 1996, well before the formation of

the UofM’s current study abroad program formed in 2010.

The goal of Horan’s most recent trip required students to construct a portfolio inspired by the 19thcentury portraiture and landscape work they viewed on the trip, and then transform their work to include a 21st-century style digital aesthetic.

“Photography and graphic design have always had a very mutually inclusive relationship,” said Horan. “We had several design students working on some very detailed, intricate work with some thoughtfulness to capturing the history of the area we visited.”

Among these students was senior journalism major Frank Ramirez, a first-generation college attendee who learned about the program at the University’s annual Study Abroad Fair.

“When I came to UofM, I didn’t know study abroad was a thing,” Ramirez said. “When I found out about the program, I still wasn’t sure that I could make it. Then I met David Horan at the Study Abroad Fair and he was really easy to talk to about it. England was always on my bucket list of countries to visit one day and I had to jump at the chance.”

When the day finally came for the eight-hour flight from Memphis to Chicago to England, Ramirez had never boarded a plane before and had previously left the country only to visit family in Mexico.

“I never had much of an opportunity to travel, much less do the things we were doing,” he said. “The castles, the cliffs, the streets of London, Abbey Road — it was all surreal, but I didn’t just want to go for the experience. I wanted to make this a trip where I could really improve my skills as a photographer.”

ARCHITECTURE FACULTY • The Department of Architecture has partnered with the Department of Civil Engineering this semester in an effort to bring students together to address design problems similar to what they will face in architecture and engineering firms post-graduation. Architecture students in Design Studio 3, taught by professor JENNIFER BARKER, and engineering students in Civil Engineering Design, taught by professor ADEL ABDELNABI, are working together on the project in the Memphis Medical District. • Adjunct professor of Architecture JIMMIE TUCKER was elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects. • ANNE BALLAM was appointed to the position of administrative associate II in the department.

CARPENTER ART GARDEN

• Professor JENNIFER BARKER presented “Visualizing Thinking” at the 2019 Commission for International Adult Education and “Community Engagement in Beginning Design Education” at the American Association for Adult and Continuing Education Conferences in St. Louis, Mo. Barker focused the presentations on work produced in the graduate Contemporary Architecture course and on a role-playing exercise for introducing community engagement to first year architecture students in the Introduction to Architecture + Design course.

• BARKER presented “Critical Reflection and the Role of the Architectural Educator in the Design Studio” at the 2019 joint Teachers Conference of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture and the European Association for Architectural Education in Antwerp, Belgium. Barker developed the presentation from work in her major research area that focuses on the process and product of architectural education. • Professor MICHAEL CHISAMORE presented “Rules of Engagement: A Semester Long Approach to Drawing the Life of the City” at the Interior Design Educator Conference at Auburn University. Chisamore focused on the work of the Design Visualization class that he has taught with professor PAMELA HURLEY for the past three years. The presentation discussed the advantages of longterm interaction with the urban fabric using a variety of drawing and visualization techniques. STUDENTS • Students in the Introduction to Architecture + Design course participated in a one-week community engagement partnership with Carpenter Art Garden. Founder Erin Harris and executive director Henry Nelson talked with the students and offered a tour of the CAG spaces, including multiple projects designed and built by the UofM AIAS Design+Build Studio over the past five summers. The AIAS Design+Build Studio completed more work at the Carpenter Art Garden this year, including a new sandbox with sails for the play area and a CAG flag that is flying high. This project came together thanks in part to architecture alums OSCAR ANDRADE, MARTIN PANTIK, MEGAN HOOVER and professors MICHAEL HAGGE and SHERRY BRYAN. • BROCK TERWILLEGER (1st Year M.Arch) and HANA ABDELRAOUF (4th Year BFA-Architecture + Interior Architecture) were awarded the 2019-20 CSI Memphis Dempsie Morrison Jr. Memorial Scholarship courtesy of CSI: Memphis. • BROCK TERWILLEGER received the AIA Memphis Scholarship. • JEEVAN THAPA (2nd Year M.Arch) and MAKENZIE MORSE (3rd Year BFAArchitecture + Interior Architecture) each received a scholarship from the Tennessee Architecture Foundation. • ANDREA JIMENEZ CARRION (M.Arch ’19) received the AIA Chattanooga Scholarship. Carrion was also awarded the AIA Henry Adams Medal. • KATE WHITAKER (M.Arch ’19) received the Jonathan King Medal from the Architectural Research Centers Consortium. • CHRISTEN AYOUB (1st Year M.Arch) and JAEMI GUIEB (4th Year BFA-Architecture + Interior Architecture) received the Alpha Rho Chi Bronze Medal for leadership, service and academics. • CHRISTEN AYOUB and BROCK TERWILLEGER were also recognized for their leadership at the 2019 AIA Memphis Gala and Celebration of Architecture. ALUMNI • MARIO WALKER (M.Arch ’12, BFAArchitecture ’07) and EMILY REDDING (M.Arch ’18, BFA-Architecture ’15) recently passed the Architect Registration Examination. Walker is an architect and project manager with Self+Tucker Architects and Redding is an architect at designshop, both in Memphis. • ANTONIO TIRADO (M.Arch ’18, BFAArchitecture + Interior Architecture, ’16 ) was recognized at the 2019 AIA Memphis Gala and Celebration of Architecture for winning the Outstanding Thesis Award from the Tennessee Conference of Graduate Schools. Tirado is a project coordinator at Self+Tucker Architects. • The following alums were elected to the AIA Memphis Board of Directors: MEGAN HOOVER (M.Arch ’15, BFAArchitecture + Interior Design ’13) LRK; JOSHUA BELLAIRE (M.Arch ’19, BFA-Architecture ’07) The Crump Firm; CHASE PERCER (BFAArchitecture ’10) Pickering Inc.; JASON WEEKS (BFA-Architecture ’01) LRK.

• ISAAC AKERS (M.Arch ’19) was recognized by AIA Memphis as its 300th member. Akers is an architectural associate with Architecture Incorporated in Memphis and is also in the MCRP degree program at the UofM. • ANDREA JIMENEZ CARRION (M.Arch ’19) has joined Self+Tucker Architects as a project coordinator. • KATE WHITAKER (M.Arch ’19) has joined H Design Group in Springfield, Mo. • HOLLY-LYNN TEDDER (M.Arch ’19, BFAArchitecture ’17) and JAEMI GUIEB (BFAArchitecture + Interior Architecture, ’19) have joined LRK Architects. • AMANDA MCGILLVERY (BFAArchitecture + Interior Architecture, ’19) has joined Self+Tucker Architects as a project coordinator.

ART FACULTY • KATE ROBERTS, assistant professor of Ceramics, was among nearly 40 artists selected to participate in the 10th Korean Ceramics Biennale. This event is held in the Gyeonggi-do Province, the most populated province in South Korea and one that is well known for its ceramics industry. • A piece by UofM professor of Art JED JACKSON has been selected for the 2019 Irene Rosenzweig Biennial Juried Exhibition at The Arts & Science Center in Pine Bluff, Ark. • DR. JOSHUA ROBERSON was presented with the Dean’s Academic Award for Outstanding Research at the 2019 CCFA Awards Banquet. • K. BRANDON BELL was presented with the Dean’s Academic Award for Creative Achievement at the 2019 CCFA Awards Banquet. • The dynamic duo of UofM art instructor K. BRANDON BELL, assistant professor of Graphic Design, and his student, E. MARSHALL, brought the Third Democratic Party Presidential Debate on Sept. 12 to life with an array of onscreen graphics. The debate was broadcast nationwide on ABC. STUDENTS • Graduate and undergraduate art education students under the tutelage of DR. BRYNA BOBICK, associate professor of Art Education, participated in The Memory Project during the spring semester. The Memory Project is a global art exchange where students create portraits for children facing challenges around the world. The University of Memphis art education students received photographs of children from Pakistan and created a portrait of each child. Employees of The Memory Project delivered the portraits to the children in Pakistan during the summer. ALUMNI • Nutgrass, a pop-up gallery of contemporary art curated by TONI ROBERTS, MFA graduate of the University of Memphis Department of Art, made its debut this past fall at the Southaven Sunflower Festival.

COMMUNICATION & FILM FACULTY • Acclaimed UofM adjunct instructor and filmmaker TOM SHADYAC was featured on the Aug. 8 Memphis Flyer cover for his work on the film “Brian Banks.” The movie tells the story of the titular Brian Banks, a rising high school football star whose career was cut short when he was convicted of a crime he didn’t commit. Shadyac served as director for the project, which was filmed locally through Memphis Mountaintop Media.

NUTGRASS GALLERY

• DR. JOY GOLDSMITH and DR. SACHIKO TERUI worked with recent PhD graduates DR. CRYSTAL DAUGHERTY and DR. JAMES BRISCOE on a research project that was accepted for a publication at the Journal of American College Health. The article is titled, “A Student-Driven HIV/ PrEP Communication Intervention Using a Modified Social Network Strategy.” The journal has an impact factor of 1.455 (2018) and 2.215 (for five-year impact factor). • DR. JOY GOLDSMITH was presented with the Dean’s Academic Award for Excellence in Engaged Scholarship at the 2019 CCFA Awards Banquet. • DR. JOY GOLDSMITH, DR. SACHIKO TERUI and SHUKURA UMI published “Providing Support for Caregiver Communication Burden,” Goldsmith., J., Wittenberg, E., Terui, S., Kim, H., & Umi, S. (2019). Providing support for caregiver communication burden: Assessing the Plain Language Planner resource as a nursing intervention. Seminars in Oncology Nursing. 35(4), 354-358. • DR. ANDRE JOHNSON served as an academic consultant for the PBS documentary from Henry Louis Gates, “Reconstruction: America After the Civil War.” • DR. ANDRE JOHNSON was the host of the RainbowPUSH Hour on WLOK radio.

PHIL CANNON MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP (DR. M DAVID RUDD AND JACK SAMMONS)

• DR. ANDRE JOHNSON was the special guest lecturer for the GAAAH conference (the University of Memphis Graduate Association for African American History) Oct. 23. His talk was titled, “Hell is a Concern as Far as the Negro is Concerned: The Prophetic Pessimism of Bishop Henry McNeal Turner.” • DR. ANDRE JOHNSON published (with Earle Fisher, department alum (’18) and of Memphis Theological Seminary) “But I Forgive You?”: Mother Emanuel, Black Pain and the Rhetoric of Forgiveness” in the Journal of Communication and Religion. • DR. ANDRE JOHNSON published (with Katherine Whitfield of Memphis Theological Seminary) “Tyler Perry and the Rhetoric of Madea: Contrasting Performances of Perry’s Leading Lady as She Appears on Stage and Screen” in the journal “Religions.” • DR. ANDRE JOHNSON and DR. AMANDA NELL EDGAR’s book, “The Struggle Over Black Lives Matter and All Lives Matter.” Lexington Books, 2018, received the Outstanding Book Award for the

African American Communication and Culture Division of the National Communication Association. • DR. ANTONIO DE VELASCO was named a Faudree University professor for 2019-22. • DR. CRAIG STEWART’s 2009 Communication Theory paper “Socioscientific Controversies: A Theoretical and Methodological Framework” was recently republished in “Landmark Essays on the Rhetoric of Science: Issues and Methods” (Routledge). This volume “compiles the essential readings of the vibrant field of rhetoric of science, tracing the growth and core concerns of the field since its development in the 1970s.” • DR. MARINA LEVINA published a new book series “Horror and Monstrosity Studies” (University Press of Mississippi). This is the first academic book series on the topic of monstrosity in the United States. • Professors STEVE ROSS and DAVID GOODMAN have been awarded a grant from the Tennessee Arts Commission to support their documentary on Ballet Memphis. • The work of AMANDA NELL EDGAR PhD, assistant professor, was highlighted as a “spotlight article” with “Communication and Critical/ Cultural Studies” (CC/CS), a peerreviewed publication of the National Communication Association. In addition, Edgar was recognized in the Memphis Flyer for co-hosting the international conference “New Perspectives on Elvis” in collaboration with Mark Duffett, Reader in Media and Cultural Studies at the University of Chester in England. • DR. TONY DE VELASCO published “I’m a Southerner, Too: Confederate Monuments and Black Counterpublics in Memphis, Tennessee” in the Southern Communication Journal. • DR. CICELY WILSON joined the Department of Communication and film as the new full-time online instructor/coordinator. Wilson earned her PhD from the UofM COMM department in 2013 and holds an MA in English from UofM, an MA in Speech Communication from Kansas State and a BA in English from Philander Smith College. Wilson has been a part-time faculty member for the COMM department since 2016 and has previously held faculty positions at Chicago State University and Victory University. ALUMNI • UofM graduate KEVIN BROOKS took home this year’s $10,000 Memphis Film Prize with his film, “A Night Out,” which was written and directed by Brooks and Abby Meyers. This is the second year Brooks has taken home the big prize following his win for his 2018 entry “Last Day”. • UofM alumna SHANNON MCINTOSH served as producer for Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood,” a box office smash on track to earn $400 million globally. • MCINTOSH earned a Golden Globe Award in January for her work on the film.

JOURNALISM AND STRATEGIC MEDIA FACULTY • Faculty presented six papers at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication annual conference in August 2019 in Toronto. DR. MATT HAUGHT presented “Visualizing the Finish Line: Exploring Capstone Courses in Visual Communications Programs” with UofM graduate DAVID MORRIS, now a professor at the University of South Carolina-Aiken. Haught also presented “A Crisis in Pictures: Visual Framing of the Opioid Epidemic in the Cincinnati Enquirer” along with former UofM professor DR. ERIN WILLIS and KATHLEEN I. ALAIMO of the University of Colorado. DR. TERI DEL ROSSO and DR. MELISSA JANOSKE MCLEAN who presented “The Pied Piper of R&B: An Intersectional Analysis of News Coverage of R. Kelly’s Sexual Abuse Allegations in the Era of #Metoo” with STEPHANIE MADDEN of Penn State and UofM master’s graduate JENIECE JAMISON. JANOSKE MCLEAN also presented “Activating Audiences: Using STOPS to Predict Engagement With Issues of Women’s Mass Incarceratio” with DR. GEAH PRESSGROVE of West Virginia University and DR. CRISOBAL BARRA of the University of Chile. DR. RUOXU WANG presented “User Experience Matters: What Are the Most Desired Skills in the UX Designer and UX Researcher Job Ads” with DR. JIN YANG and graduate student LOUIS ASSER. WANG also presented “Exploring the Effects of Compliance/Noncompliance Framing, Desirability of End States and Brand Zealotry on Consumers’ Responses to Wearables Advertising.” • In honor of her decades of service to the Department of Journalism and Strategic Media, DR. SANDRA UTT was honored with the naming of an award in her name. Utt, who retired in spring 2019, is now the namesake for the Outstanding Advertising Student award, which is given each spring to the best student in the advertising major. The award is now the Dr. Sandra Utt Outstanding Advertising Student Award. In addition, Utt was recognized by the American Advertising Federation for her years of service. • DR. MELISSA JANOSKE MCLEAN was awarded the Dean’s Academic Advising Award at the 2019 CCFA Awards. • DR. JIN YANG and DR. MELISSA JANOSKE MCLEAN were awarded the D. Mike Pennington Outstanding Mentoring Award at the 2019 Journalism and Strategic Media Alumni Awards. The award is named for D. Mike Pennington, an alumnus who worked in public relations and took pride in his mentorship of his staff. • The University of Memphis will host the 45TH ANNUAL AEJMC SOUTHEAST COLLOQUIUM from March 19-21 at the FedEx Institute of Technology at the University of Memphis. • DR. RUOXU WANG was awarded the third place promising professor award by the Mass Communication and Society Division of AEJMC. In addition, Wang was published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Nonprofit & Public Sector Marketing for her study “Encouraging Volunteering in Nonprofit Organizations: The Role of Organizational Inclusion and Volunteer Need Satisfaction.” • Award-winning Memphis journalist DAVID WATERS joined the staff of the Institute for Public Service Reporting on March 1 as assistant director. Waters, 60, joins the institute after a 35-year career in journalism, mostly at The Commercial Appeal. STUDENTS • Following three years of year-toyear funding for the PHIL CANNON MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP, the board of Youth Programs Inc., the charitable foundation of the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, has permanently endowed this scholarship awarded to University of Memphis journalism students. Since 1958, Youth Programs Inc. has been the charitable arm and host committee of the annual golf tournament held in Memphis. This scholarship was made possible through a $250,000 contribution from Youth Programs Inc. and will provide a full scholarship to be awarded each year to one journalism student interested in a career in sports journalism. As part of the scholarship, the student also has the opportunity to intern at the annual WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. • JENNIFER NICHOLS and CYNTHIA CASTOR, two advertising students who graduated in May 2019, were named to the American Advertising Federation’s list of Most Promising Multicultural Students. Both were honored Feb. 13, 2019, at AAF’s “Building Bridges for Our Future Luncheon” at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City. • Three graduate students were recognized on March 8 at the 2019 AEJMC Southeast Colloquium in Columbia, S.C., for their research; one student took home a top award at the conference. GARRETT PILGRIM presented his research paper, entitled “Holy Smokies! Information Design, Humor and Trail Safety,” which was recognized as the top student research paper in the Visual Communication Division. Also presenting research was JORDIN HOWELL, with her research

SANDRA UTT AAF (L TO R: STEVE PACHECO, SANDRA UTT AND CONNIE FRAZIER)

paper titled “Out of the Shadows: Female Representation in ‘Shadow of the Tomb Raider.’” The research examined how the main character Laura Croft of the new Tomb Raider video game is portrayed much differently than in earlier games. The third student, WILL SUGGS, presented his research paper “Come Wind or High Waters: Reimagining Hurricane Reorganization.” The research offered some new insight into graphic designs on how to convey the seriousness of hurricane warnings. • JORDIN HOWELL received a top paper award from the Entertainment Studies Interest Group of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication for her presentation of “Out of the Shadows: Female Representation in Shadow of the Tomb Raider.” Graduate student TERESA DANIEL also presented “Retailers in the Age of E-Commerce: How Instagram User-Generated Content Frames the Target In-Store Experience” at the AEJMC annual conference in Toronto. • The UofM chapter of the PUBLIC RELATIONS STUDENT SOCIETY OF AMERICA will host the 2020 international PRSSA convention in October in Nashville. The PRSSA convention is in conjunction with the international PRSA convention, and the UofM chapter won the right to host with a bid and pitch competition against other chapters in the Southeast region.

SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS

ALUMNI • PAUL D’AMBROSIO, MA ’18, and his reporting team won an Edward R. Murrow Award for investigative reporting at the Asbury Park (NJ) Press/APP.com. The 19-part series changed state law after exposing the secret agreements that allowed violent cops to remain on local police forces until they maimed or killed innocent people. The series also won the Silver Gavel Award from the American Bar Association. D’Ambrosio is the executive editor at APP and was the investigations editor during the development of the series. • STEVE PACHECO was named president and CEO of the American Advertising Federation in June 2019. Pacheco has formerly been advertising director at both FedEx and International Paper and most recently was chief marketing officer of Ducks Unlimited.

THEATRE & DANCE FACULTY • Onstage Blog listed the University of Memphis among the TOP 30 COLLEGE DANCE PROGRAMS in the nation for 2019-20. The schools were selected on criteria that included cost versus scholarships, quality of facilities, performance/production opportunities and post-graduate support, as well as diversity of students and faculty. A new consideration this year was security, both on- and off-campus. • ALICE RAINEY BERRY was presented with the Ann Dunn Award at the 2019 CCFA Annual Meeting. • JILL GUYTON NEE, director of Dance, performed a piece titled “(living)(room)” at the International Women in Dance Leadership Conference in October at Drexel University in Philadelphia. • Assistant professor of Dance MICHAEL MEDCALF’S proposal to present his research on legendary choreographer Talley Beatty has been accepted by the International Association of Blacks in Dance. He will present his research at the association’s annual conference in January 2020 in Philadelphia. STUDENTS • The Orpheum hosted the 36th annual Ostrander Awards this past August, which featured several UofM honorees throughout the evening. The Ostrander Awards recognize the best in Memphis Theatre, with an array of categories dedicated to creative achievements like Best Set Design, Best Leading Actor and Best Overall Production. UofM productions INTIMATE APPAREL and BE MORE CHILL took home 12 and six awards, respectively, while several UofM alumni like ERICA PENINGER (Leading Actress in a Musical) also won numerous awards. • Tennessee Shakespeare Company has announced UofM’s own EMILY MCCORMICK and TYLER J. VERNON as its 2019-20 Fellows. McCormick and Vernon will perform throughout the upcoming season, where they’ll be acting on stage, teaching thousands of Memphis-area children and working in the TSC administrative offices as artist-managers — just like William Shakespeare. ALUMNI • As a former backing vocalist with Harry Belafonte, BFA theater graduate GABRIELLE LEE will join fellow former backing vocalists and musicians to honor Belafonte each year on his March 1 birthday in their original creation of “Turn The World Around” — a live concert celebration of the music and legacy of icon and activist.

• CASSIE BECK (BFA ’99) returns to Broadway as Miss Yorke in The Rose Tattoo at Roundabout Theatre Company with Marisa Tomei. Her previous Broadway credits are Picnic and The Humans. Beck is joined by fellow UofM grad BEN FICHTHORN (BFA ’12), who is the programmer on “The Rose Tattoo.” • DONNA KIMBALL (BFA ’85) is a puppeteer with Sid & Marty Krofft and The Jim Henson Company. Donna is the voice of Aughra in Netflix’s series “The Dark Crystal.” She is also working on “Crank Yankers” and “Puppet Up-Uncensored.” • YOSSEF K (MFA ’15) is assistant directing Scott Schwartz on “Big Fish” opening at the Seoul Arts Center in 2020. He recently had a very successful run of Joyce, a show written by DAVID COUTER (BFA ’16) at the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh.

RUDI E. SCHEIDT SCHOOL OF MUSIC FACULTY • In September 2019, the SCHOOL OF MUSIC entered into a partnership with the LEVITT SHELL. That month, the UofM Wind Ensemble and commercial music groups performed a concert reflecting the legacy of Memphis music. That was just the beginning because in 2020, the school’s ensembles will present a series of concerts at the Shell. • The School of Music’s professor emeritus, DR. DAVID EVANS, won the 2019 Grammy for Best Album Notes. Evans wrote the pieces for the boxed CD set, Voices of Mississippi: Artists and Musicians Documented by William Ferris. The CDs contain the performances of various artists recorded by Ferris in Mississippi in the late 1960s. • RYAN FISHER, associate professor of music education, co-authored a chapter with Dr. Dru Davison, Shelby County Schools Fine Arts Advisor, in The Oxford Handbook of Assessment Policy and Practice in Music Education, Vol. I. • ELISE BLATCHFORD, associate professor of flute in the School of Music and a sponsored artist of Powell Flutes, presented a recital at the Buffet-Crampon showroom in New York City on Oct. 8. Blatchford’s trip included a visit to Rutgers University for a recital and master class. • JANET K. PAGE, Pearl Wales Professor of Music, recently published the first ever edition of music by the Austrian Baroque nun-composer Maria Anna von Raschenau. • PAGE was presented with the Benjamin W. Rawlins Jr. Meritorious Professorship award at the 2019 CCFA Annual Meeting. • PROFESSOR KEVIN SANDERS accepted the role of director of the Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music in late 2019. For the full story on Sanders, visit CCFA Voices Online at blogs.memphis.edu/ccfa. STUDENTS • Last Saturday, School of Music DMA composition major JUAN SEBASTIÁN CARDONA-OSPINA won the National Composition Competition for Choir and Orchestra in Colombia. His work, “Cuando fui mortal,” was composed last spring for his lessons with DR. KAMRAN INCE. The work will be performed this November in Bogotá at the Leon de Grieff Concert Hall. • SHANNON MOORE, who is pursuing a DMA in flute performance, was selected to join the U.S. Army Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Middle Tennessee State University, a performance certificate from the Trevor Wye Summer Course in England and a master's degree from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. Moore is a student of Elise Blatchford. • Sophomore flute performance major CHEN-YU (JAMES) LEE attended the Japan Flute Convention in Fukuoa, Japan, in August of 2019. ALUMNI • University of Memphis School of Music alumna DELARA HASHEMI was announced as the newly appointed 2nd Flute of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra. Hashemi graduated with an MM in flute performance in 2015. • GREELY MYATT, professor with the Department of Art, who has been with the University for 30 years; will retire at the end of this academic year. • SUSAN OWEN-LEINERT, associate professor with the Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music, who has been with the University for 14 years; will retire at the end of this academic year. • STEVE ROSS, professor with the Department of Communication & Film, who has been with the University for 37 years; will retire at the end of this academic year. • JOHN CHIEGO stepped down from his role of director of the Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music in October to return to the faculty. • WAYNE SIMPKINS, associate professor with the Department of Art, who has been with the University for 45 years; will retire at the end of this academic year. • DAN PHILLIPS, associate professor with the Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music, who has been with the University for 20 years; will retire at the end of this academic year. • SHERRY BRYAN, associate professor and director of Architecture and director of Graduate Studies in Architecture Sherry Bryan will retire at the end of this academic year. • MARGARET ALLISON GRAHAM, professor of Communication Studies, who has been with the University for 39 years; will retire at the end of this academic year. • JAMES F. WILLIAMSON, professor with the Department of Architecture, who has been with the University for 12 years; will retire at the end of this academic year.

CCFA RETIREMENTS AND RESIGNATIONS • FRED ALBERTSON, professor with the Department of Art, who has been with the University for 32 years; will retire at the end of this academic year. • JOHN BAUR, professor with the Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music, who has been with the University for 40 years; will retire at the end of this academic year.