Alumni in the News

Warren Craghead (M.F.A., Studio Art, 1996) has released his second portrait sketch book, TRUMPTRUMP Vol 2, a collection of daily "grotesque" portraits of Donald Trump, through Retrofit Comics and Big Planet Comics. 

Ali Fitzgerald (M.F.A., Studio Art, 2007) has released her new graphic memoir, Drawn to Berlin: Comic Workshops in Refugee Shelters and Other Stories From a New Europe. An American expat in Berlin, Fitzgerald began running art workshops for refugees in 2015, and her book looks at their current difficulties as they seek and struggle for safety.

Natalia Anciso (B.A. Studio Art, 2008), and her artwork are included in the recently released book, New Art, New Markets.

Alan E. Hicks (D.M.A., 2009) has been appointed Director of Opera Theatre at San Diego State University in a newly created joint position with San Diego opera. In addition to his duties at SDSU, Dr. Hicks will also serve on the staff of San Diego Opera.

R. Scott Blackshire (PhD, Performance as Public Practice, 2018) has been named the new curator of the Tobin Collection of Theatre Arts at the McNay Art Museum in San Antonio, Texas. Over the course of nearly 40 years, Dr. Blackshire is only the third individual to hold this curatorial position.

Recent graduate Lizah Vaillancourt (B.F.A., Visual Art Studies, 2018) will be awarded one of the 2018 Outstanding Art Educator awards in the division of Student of Art Education from the Texas Art Education Association (TAEA) during the TAEA annual conference on Nov 9, 2018. 

Alumnus Bucky Miller (M.F.A., Studio Art, 2017) has been awarded a 2018 Aaron Siskind Foundation Individual Photographer's Fellowship. 

Daniel Madrid (M.M., Music, 2013) has been hired as the Executive Assistant to the General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera House.

Steve Parker (D.M.A., Music, 2012) is the recipient of this year’s Tito’s Prize, a $15,000 cash award funded by the Texas vodka company and administered through Austin arts organization Big Medium, who give the winning artist a solo show staged during the East Austin Studio. Initiated last year, the Tito’s Prize is the largest cash prize granted to an Austin visual artist.

Harrison Butler (M.F.A., Theatre, 2010) has been named the new executive director of the Theatre of Arts Acting Conservatory in Los Angeles. TOA is the longest continuously running acting conservatory in Los Angeles, located in the heart of Hollywood. Butler is the 14th executive director to be hired in the history of the institution.