Alumni in the News

After returning from Iraq with what he describes as a foot "demolished" by gunfire, Robert Lee Aiken III (B.F.A., Studio Art, 2011) turned to art as a means of dramatizing the plight of fellow veterans. On July 4, 2011, Aiken was invited to lead attendees in the Pledge of Allegiance at an Independence Day celebration in College Station. There, he and his family were surprised with a new home thanks to Operation Finally Home. The home was in appreciation for his service to his country.

In February and March of 2011, UT COFA alumnus Ben Aqua (B.F.A., Design, 2005) was selected to be University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's inaugural artist-in-residence at their gallery space Figure One, in collaboration with the School of Art and Design’s annual lecture series. Aqua gave a public lecture to students and faculty, ran a hands-on portrait photography workshop with 12 university students, and continued his ongoing series of photographic portraits of local personalities while in Champaign. Aqua also participated in local outreach opportunities, including a presentation and interactive portrait demonstration with an AP Studio Art class at a local high school.

At the end of the residency and workshop, Aqua and his students collaborated on an exhibition of new works created during the workshop at Figure One.

Eric Vera (B.F.A., Theatre Studies, 2008) has just been named the Executive Artistic Director of The Camille Playhouse in Brownsville, Texas. It is a wonderful opportunity for Vera, as he returns to his hometown and leads the theatre that was integral to his early education.

Vera recently served on the Department of Theatre and Dance alumni committee for The Fantasticks 50th Anniversary. You can learn more about him on the alumni spotlight.

Fred Jones (B.A., Theatre and Dance, '08) and his acting partner, Paul Marino, were recently featured by The Wall Street Journal Online.  They are combing the subway lines underneath the streets of New York City in an interesting form of guerilla theatre – two-man scenes from Shakespeare.

Katherine Crawford Luber (M.A., Art History, ’85) has been appointed as the new director of the San Antonio Museum of Art.  She will begin her new position on July 1, 2011.  Katherine taught in the Department of Art and Art History from 1992 to 1993. 

Mel McCombie (Ph.D., Art History, ’92) was named a Fulbright Scholar for 2011-2012 to the American University in Cairo's American Studies Program. She is the first art historian to be awarded this fellowship.

Susan Verdi Webster (Ph.D., Art History, ‘92) has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for the next academic year.  Webster was one of just two scholars selected in the Fine Arts Research category.  She is currently the Mahoney Professor of Art and Art History at the College of William and Mary.

Dr. Kayoko Dan (B.M., Music Studies, ’00) has been announced, after a two year search, as the new music director at the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera.  Dan has been selected as the eighth Music Director of the CSO and the first woman to hold the position.

Lisa D'Amour (M.F.A., Playwriting, '96) was one of three Pulitzer Prize finalists in drama for her play Detroit. Premiered at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theater in September 2010, Detroit is described by the Pulitzer jury as “a contemporary tragicomic play that depicts a slice of desperate life in a declining inner-ring suburb where hope is in foreclosure.” Detroit will be produced on Broadway in early fall of 2011 under the direction of Austin Pendleton. This marks D'Amour's Broadway debut.

Aimée Rhodes Lubin (M.F.A., Studio Art, ’03) and her mother, Suzan Cook, are holding a joint exhibition called Abstract Gestation: From LA to West Texas: An Artistic Dialog Between a Mother and a Daughter.  The exhibition is taking place at the Fort Worth Community Arts Center, April 4^th – 29^th.