News: March, 2008
• On March 8, $80,000 was raised for Easter Seals of Virginia, due in part to the sale of elaborately decorated eggs filled with cash and prizes. The egg decorating was headed up by Fashion Design and Merchandising chair Karen Videtic and the eggs were decorated by Fashion students.
• Art History BA student Ryan Hechler has received a 2008 VCUarts Dean's International Travel Grant for summer research in Peru. PhD student Kerry Brown has received a 2008 Phi Kappa Phi Graduate School Scholarship. And PhD candidate Simone Zuther presents a paper entitled "A Troop of Tarts in a Garden": The Reception of Franz Xavier Winterhalter's The Empress Eugenie Surrounded by Her Ladies-in-Waiting" at the 38th Annual Middle Atlantic Symposium in the History of Art, sponsored by the University of Maryland and held at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., on March 29, 2008.
• VCU Dance student performances leave them dazzled at the American College Dance Festival. Out of four adjudication concerts containing approximately 50 dances choreographed by students, faculty and guest artists from universities around the region, both works presented by VCU Dance were chosen for inclusion in the festival's culminating gala performance, consisting of 11 works in total.
• VCU Dance congratulates alumna Samantha Speis, a member of the Urban Bush Women, on her contribution to the performance "Les escailles de la memoire" at the Kennedy Center. Additionally, Samantha Speis, Megan Harrold and Robbie Kinter took part in the 25th Annual Choreographers' Showcase at the Clarice Smith Center in College Park, Maryland.
• The complex digital images of Department of Photography and Film 2007 graduate Kristen Jensen has her work featured in the recent issue of American Photo on Campus magazine.
• The VCU Symphonic Wind Ensemble will make its Carnegie Hall debut this month as a showcase for the Sixth Annual New York Wind Band Festival. The Symphonic Wind Ensemble, a 50-piece band conducted by Terry Austin, director of bands and professor of music at VCU, will perform five pieces on the Carnegie Hall stage.
• Music instructor Albert Regni is featured in a Richmond Times-Dispatch article. His travels with the New York Philharmonic are highlighted.
• Richard Kuhlbars, adjunct professor in Communication Arts, was recently honored with a Muse award from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts for his project SoldierHelp. Muse awards are given to Virginia organizations that reflect exceptional creativity in business.
• Craft/Material Studies assistant professor Susie Ganch has been awarded the NICHE Arts Educator of the Year by American Craft.
• In March and April, recent films by Department of Photography and Film Assistant Professor, Sonali Gulati, will be screened in over 14 festivals across the USA and in Switzerland.
• On March 1, an exhibition called Repressed III opened at Richmond's Gallery 5. The exhibition includes photographs and videos by Department of Photography and Film graduate students Jenn Chase and Hassan Pitts.
