Alumni in the News

Nicole Christine Haywood (B.M., Music Performance, 2014) won the audition for the Assistant Principal and Second Bassoon position of the Grant Park Orchestra in Chicago.

Amelia Winger-Bearskin ( M.F.A, Studio Art, 2008) received an Engadget Award for her interactive room-scale VR project, "Your Hands Are Feet."

Rachel Winfree (M.F.A. Drama & Theatre for Youth Communities, 1979) is producing, performing in and directing INAPPROPRIATE, for NEO Ensemble Theatre in Los Angeles, in collaboration with her husband Michael Caldwell. The show will run in May at The Actor's Workout Studio in North Hollywood.

Julia-Lorenz Olson (B.A., Theatre and Dance, 2008) and Philip Olson (B.A., Theatre and Dance, 2007) host a new PBS show called "Two Cents", a new weekly series about personal finance for millennials and Gen Z that airs on Facebook Watch.

Laurel Shear (M.F.A., Studio Art, 2015) gained gallery representation with Fort Gansevoort in New York.  Known for shape-shifting in a competitive gallery environment, Shear’s representation signals further expansion to the west coast for the gallery.

James Ogden (M.F.A., Theatre Design and Technology, 2014) was interviewed by American Theatre for his set design work for “Angels in America” production.

Will Davis (M.F.A., Directing, 2013), Chicago's American Theater Company’s artistic director, listed in New City Stage’s “Players 2018: The Fifty People Who Really Perform for Chicago.”

Eddie Lopez's  (B.A., Music Studies, 2008) company, Perform America–TX, is sponsoring the Butler School of Music alumni gathering at the 2018 Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA) conference in San Antonio. Lopez also pledged the Edward R. Lopez Endowed Scholarship in Music in 2017 for undergraduate UT music majors. 

Jarrod Beck (M.F.A., Studio Art, 2007) is the artist-in-residence for the Moody Center for the Arts at Rice University, through April 2018. His piece Origin, 135 degrees was commissioned by Rice Public Art.  

Dr. Mary Ellen Cavitt (Ph.D., Music Education, 1998) was recently promoted from her position as Professor of Music Education and Associate Dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communication to Assistant Vice President for Academic Services at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas.