VPA - Syracuse University College of Visual and Performing Arts

Kevin McGurn ’26, a junior majoring in communications design, fuels Syracuse Athletics’ digital gold rush as a creative media intern for Syracuse Orange football. 📷 🏈

“I’m getting hands-on experience in integrated sports marketing while changing the way our fans engage with Syracuse football,” McGurn says. “It’s a win-win.”

Read more: https://www.syracuse.edu/stories/kevin-mcgurn/

Meet our returning career ambassadors: Bridget, Sara, Talia, and Yesmene! 👋

Career ambassadors are an integral part of the career services team here at VPA. They serve as leaders at career events, assist with social media ideas, moderate panel discussions at events, and receive one-on-one mentoring from a member of the college’s career services team.

Do you want to be a career ambassador? Apply now: https://bit.ly/3WYZvc9.

Looking to connect with VPA alumni in the New York City area?

Join the Young Alumni Council for a gathering on Wednesday, Sept. 25, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at Hidden Lane Bar! 🤝

Registration includes food and two drink tickets. Proceeds will go to supporting current VPA students through the SU: VPA Scholarship fund.

Register now: https://bit.ly/4cMTJQC

Art fills the halls of Syracuse University once again! 🧡💙🧡

Students in this illustration class kicked off the start of the semester with some amazing drawings in the halls of Shaffer Art Building. ✍️

Meet the newest members of ! 🍊

Talk about hands-on learning! Students in the art therapy program, with assistance from a museum studies student, created their own art exhibition. 🤯

Come check it out Saturday, Aug. 24, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at Shaffer Art Building!

Welcome to Syracuse University's College of Visual and Performing Arts! 👋😄

We had a blast meeting students, parents, families, and supporters today during the Dean’s Welcome.

Congratulations to film major Thomas O’Brien ’25 on being named a 2024-25 Orange Innovation Scholar! 👏

An entrepreneur who combines the art of filmmaking with business and marketing, O’Brien looks to revolutionize how narrative filmmaking is produced, shared, and consumed in the new digital age.

Learn more: https://bit.ly/3At7vKK

Three cheers for all the students named to the Dean’s List for the Spring 2024 semester! 📣 🙌

Read more: https://bit.ly/3yNOtOP

Anshul Roy G’24, an art photography major, recently won the Association for Computing Machinery SIGGRAPH Conferences's Art Gallery Best in Show award for his M.F.A. thesis project, “Rage Against the Archive." 🥇 🙌

“It is an immense honor to win the ACMSIGGRAPH Best in Show award, and I am still in disbelief,” he says. “Meeting many talented New Media artists who are pushing the boundaries of contemporary art was an incredible experience.”

Consisting of video, performance, and new media art, his project investigates how the New York Public Library’s website catalogs, displays, and sells dehumanizing ethnographic photos from “The People of India.”

Read more: https://bit.ly/3M8TaWl

A straw Goon Squad hat is among School of Art graduate Sue Weber’s most precious Syracuse University mementos.

Celebrating 80 years of making a difference in the lives of first-year students, the Goon Squad will greet new students and lend a hand during move-in at residence halls as part of ⁠Syracuse Welcome⁠, the University’s new student orientation program.

Catch the full story: https://bit.ly/4fLt89k

We're thrilled to highlight Aman Johnson, a 2024 design studies graduate, for our last !

Aman is off to become a Bruin as a member of the highly selective producing program at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. Congratulations, Aman! You deserve all the wonderful success you achieve. 🧡💙

Recent graduates, don't forget to complete the First Destination Survey: https://bit.ly/3x2XylN.

A spectacular lineup of performances awaits in the Department of Drama's 2024-25 season! Tickets are now available online.

This year’s productions include:
🎭 Pippin (Oct. 11-20)
🎭 Twelfth Night (Nov. 15-23)
🎭 Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella (Nov. 22-Jan. 5; co-produced with Syracuse Stage)
🎭 A Walrus in the Body of a Crocodile (Feb. 21-March 1)
🎭 What the Moon Saw (March 28-April 6)
🎭 Little Women (May 2-10)

Learn more: https://bit.ly/3Yx8K5L

📷 Michael Davis

It’s not every day you get to perform at the National Convention of the American Guild of Organists!

Anne Laver (left photo), associate professor in the Setnor School of Music, was a featured performer at the recent convention. Her recital included a work for trombone and organ by Assistant Professor Natalie Draper (right photo), commissioned by the San Francisco Special Projects Fund, as well as work by alumnus Asriel Davis G’23.

To top it off, Laver presented a paper, “Organ Concerts at San Francisco World’s Fair,” with organ performance major Abbie Wood ’25.

On this , we’re proud to feature Jaemon Crosby, a 2024 acting graduate. 🎭

Jaemon has secured a place at LAMDA (London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art) in their classical acting program! He was also named a Fulbright Scholar (The Fulbright Program). 👏 ✨ Break a leg, Jaemon!

Where are you headed post-graduation? Tell us all about it by completing the First Destination Survey: https://syr.joinhandshake.com/edu/first_destination_surveys/6775.

Raising awareness of bird-window collisions, VPA - School of Art at Syracuse University Associate Professor Holly Greenberg’s art project, Bird Collisions in the Anthropocene, recently caught the eye of the Chicago Tribune.

Throughout the summer, Greenberg (left) is holding free workshops where attendees create a replica of one of the 10,836 birds that died from a Chicago window collision last year.

The Syracuse community lent a hand to the project during a workshop (right) held at the Syracuse University Art Museum last spring.

Read the story: https://www.chicagotribune.com/2024/07/26/bird-building-collisions-chicago-art/

Today for , we'd like to introduce you to Esther Kim! 🎉

Esther recently graduated from our fashion design (B.F.A.) program and is now working as an assistant designer at G-III Apparel! She works with designs for Donna Karan and Calvin Klein. We're so proud of you, Esther! 👏

2024 grads, what are you up to? Let us know by completing the survey: https://syr.joinhandshake.com/edu/first_destination_surveys/6775.

Who doesn't love a good comic book to film adaptation! 📚 ➡️ 🎥

Kendall Phillips, professor in the Department of Communication & Rhetorical Studies, helped curate a nine-film series that explores the ways filmmakers have taken source material from comic books and brought it to the screen.

“Beyond the Universe: Comic Books and Film” will run through August at the Dryden Theatre (George Eastman Museum) in Rochester and spotlight films from the past 45 years.

Learn more: https://bit.ly/4c9BX9M

Syracuse University has been named one of the 30 Best Film Schools in the U.S. and Canada by MovieMaker Magazine! 🎥 🎊

The B.F.A. and M.F.A. programs “put an emphasis on independent filmmaking, teaching students the entire process from development through post-production,” notes MovieMaker.

Read more: https://bit.ly/4dc1i45

📷 Sam Bray

We love meeting new people and conversing about the arts during Orange Previews. 🧡💙🧡

It's that time of the week again! 🌟 Introducing our spotlight: Kate Harrington!

A communications design graduate, Kate dived into the world of design at Ethos Nantucket! She is also studying culinary arts at the Ballymaloe Cookery School. 🍽 Congratulations, Kate, on your fantastic achievements!

Tell us about the next step in your career or education journey by completing the First Destination Survey: https://syr.joinhandshake.com/edu/first_destination_surveys/6775.

Department of Communication & Rhetorical Studies Associate Professor Sylvia Sierra gave context for the political meme world in which we live in a recent interview with Spectrum News 1.

“We can see it going back to the 2012 election, when it was Barack Obama versus Mitt Romney,” Sierra says. “That's when I think we started seeing and analyzing a lot of memes being used.”

Political memes can pack a punch, but some are misleading, professor warns Some, however, feature misinformation, a professor warned.

Congratulations to Elisa Dekaney on her appointment as associate provost for strategic initiatives! 🙌

Dekaney, now associate dean for research and global engagement and a professor of music education, will assume her new role on Aug. 1.

“I am honored to join Interim Provost Lois Agnew and the entire Academic Affairs team,” Dekaney says. “I am committed to advancing our strategic goals with a strong focus on diversity and inclusion. By ensuring that our initiatives reflect these core values, we can create a transformative educational experience that benefits all members of our community.”

Read more: https://vpa.syr.edu/interim-provost-lois-agnew-adds-elisa-dekaney-to-leadership-team/

Syracuse University is honoring the memory of alumnus and fallen Cleveland, Ohio, police officer Jamieson Ritter ’19 with the establishment of a scholarship in his name.

Ritter completed a degree in Communication & Rhetorical Studies and was part of Syracuse Army ROTC.

Read more: https://news.syr.edu/blog/2024/07/17/university-establishes-scholarship-to-honor-jamieson-ritter-19/