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RECENT ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• Don Holder is nominated for a Tony Award for Best Lighting Design of a Musical for “Paradise Square.” This is Holder’s 14th Tony nomination; he’s won twice. THEATER
• Brandon Williams has been awarded The Presidential Fellowship for Teaching Excellence from Rutgers University. The award honors newly promoted and tenured faculty members who have made outstanding contributions to teaching during their early years at Rutgers. MUSIC
• Jeanine Oleson was awarded a MacDowell Fellowship for summer 2022. ART & DESIGN
  
• Scott Ordway‘s newest album, The Clearing and the Forest, releases April 14 on Acis Productions. The album features the SOLI Chamber Ensemble and addresses the connections between landscape, migration, and refuge. MUSIC
• Pam Tanowitz will be honored with the Liberty Award for Artistic Leadership from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council in May. DANCE
• Distinguished Professor Emeritus Raphael Montañez Ortiz is featured in Raphael Montañez Ortiz: A Contextual Retrospective at El Museo del Barrio, the first large-scale exhibition since 1988 dedicated to the artist, activist, educator, and founder of El Museo del Barrio. ART & DESIGN
• Julia Baumanis was featured in the Rutgers Today story Pep Band Director Behind Fan’s Ear-Shattering Chants Shatters Glass Ceiling and accompanying YouTube video. MUSIC
• Barbara Madsen has received a $15,000 Individual Artist Fellowship Award from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts in the area of Printmaking/Works on Paper/Book Arts. ART & DESIGN
• Todd Nichols was elected to serve as president of the Big Ten Band Directors National Association for a two-year term, from 2022 to 2024. In December, Nichols was invited for the third time to conduct at the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago. MUSIC
• Shawn Snyder is co-writer and director of The Futurist, which received the 2022 Sundance Institute / Sloan Commissioning Grant. FILM
• Jazz piano faculty member Bill O’Connell was nominated for a Grammy Award in the instrumental arranging category for “Chopsticks.” MUSIC
• Percussion instructor Javier Diaz played on the soundtrack of Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story remake–and appears in the film. MUSIC
• Steffani Jemison and Gerry Beegan were featured in an episode of NJTV’s State of the Arts about the Angela Davis exhibition at the ZImmerli Art Museum. ART & DESIGN

FACULTY VOICES IN THE MEDIA

• Cameron Knight was quoted in an Asbury Park Press article on Macbeth and why it has found its moment in 2022. THEATER
• Ani Javian was featured in the DanceTeacher Magazine article “How Are Dance Professors Grading During COVID-19?” DANCE
• Kim Elliott was quoted in a MyCentralJersey feature on the importance of arts education, even when learning remotely. Pandemic takes a swipe at fine arts education, but might just prove how much it’s worth DANCE
• Marc Handelman was quoted in the article “An Artistic Reckoning in Chelsea” in Chelsea News. ART & DESIGN

RECENT NEWS

Percussion instructor Javier Diaz plays in “West Side Story” remake MUSIC

Faculty featured in “State of the Arts” episode about Angela Davis exhibition ART & DESIGN

Alumni and faculty reflect on Broadway’s historic shutdown and highly anticipated reopening MUSIC, THEATER

Mason Gross faculty awarded grants in collaboration with the School of Public Health ART & DESIGN, DANCE