Alumni in the News

Altin Sencalar was recently named Visiting Professor of Jazz Trombone at San Fransisco Conservatory of Music. As an active performer, Altin has shared the stage, toured, and/or recorded with DeeDee Bridgewater, Rodney Whitaker, Christian McBride, Michael Bublé, John Lee, The Dizzy All Stars Alumni Big Band, David Sanborn, Dafnis Prieto, Ulysses Owens Jr., The Temptations, The Four Tops, Martha Reeves, The Velvalletes, Ne-Yo, Big Sean and many others. He has also recorded for several motion pictures including Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, My Little Pony: The Movie (2017 release) and others independent films.

Altin has held teaching positions at Michigan State University, Brevard Jazz Institute, the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts Summer Jazz Intensive, Jazz & Creative Institute, Central Texas College and the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor.
 

Alvez Barkoskie IV completed his D.M.A. at the University of Oklahoma in fall 2021 with the successful defense of his dissertation "An Analysis of Three Recital Pieces by William Lloyd Weber." In 2023 his choral pieces "Alma Redemptoris Mater" and "Pie Jesu" were published by E.C.S. and Galaxy Publishing respectively. His choral work "Little Lamb," a setting of the popular William Blake text was performed by the Oklahoma City University Chamber singers and later aired on the nationally-syndicated program "With Hearts and Voices," hosted by Peter Dubois. He recently completed his first composition commission "May the Lord Support Us" with text by John Henry Newman for the Chancel Choir of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Amira Pollock, a McCombs School of Business leadership coach and instructor at Center for Professional Education and Extended Campus, leads a two-day Business Improv workshop weaves together case studies, research, and theater improvisation exercises for Texas Extended Campus.

The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston has announced that Claire Howard will be leaving her role at the Blanton Museum of Art to join their institution as the Hansjörg Wyss Curator of Modern Art. Howard joined the Blanton as Assistant Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art in 2017 and has since been promoted to Associate Curator of Collections and Exhibitions. During her tenure she organized exhibitions such as Suzanne Bocanegra: Valley (2021), Ideas in Sensuous Form: The International Symbolist Movement (2018) and Joiri Minaya: Labadee (2019), as well as Contemporary Projects with Lily Cox-Richard (2019) and Las Hermanas Iglesias (2022). Prior to working at the Blanton, Howard served as a Vivian L. Smith Foundation Fellow at the Menil Collection in Houston, a graduate research assistant in American and Contemporary Art at the Blanton and a research assistant in Modern and Contemporary Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, among other roles.

Carlos Rosales-Silva (B.F.A., Studio Art, 2017) recently completed a new 11,000-square foot mural at The Momentary in Bentonville, Arkansas. Context Shift is a composition by Rosales-Silva that highlights a core pillar of his work: how individuals interpret color as contextual. The vibrant colors on the mural are inverted to represent how context shifts; colors in the background on one side are in the foreground on the other side of the mural. The mirroring design of the mural is meant to shift perspectives on how the design elements blend together.  

Justin Patch (Ph.D., Music, 2008) recently published his third book The Art of Populism in US Politics: Pro-Trump DIY Popular Culture (Routledge, 2024), which examines citizen-made art from 2016-2023. Through examinations of different types and styles of pro-Trump art, the book looks to decode the desires, fears, and hopes of ordinary citizens who comprise the MAGA movement. Patch is an assistant professor of music at Vassar College. His research focuses on music in American politics, sound studies and music of the African diaspora.