Congratulations to the graduating class of 2020!
Your journey to this moment was herculean even before the pandemic, and that you made it to the finish line in spite of this life-changing reality makes you our heroes.
So, don your capes, turn up your volume, and enjoy this special graduation address from Dean John W. Scheib.
Below it, you’ll find even more to celebrate, including a list of our students who are graduating with honors degrees, acknowledgement of our retiring and emeritus faculty members, and announcement of our esteemed Faculty and Staff Excellence Award recipients and a University of Utah Distinguished Teaching Award.
To each and every one of you: thank you for all you bring to the University of Utah College of Fine Arts. And congratulations to our graduates!
Honors degrees
The Honors College is celebrating another record-breaking academic year in terms of number of students graduating with an Honors Bachelor degree. Below are the College of Fine Arts students receiving honors degrees who contributed to the overall success:
Abigail Bowe
Department of Film & Media Arts
Tehua Clark
Department of Film & Media Arts
Morgan Cox
Department of Film & Media Arts, Entertainment Arts & Engineering
Tony Elison
School of Music
Roxanne Fitzwilliam
Department of Film & Media Arts
Erin Jackson
Department of Art & Art History
Sydney Porter Williams
Department of Art & Art History
Severin Sargent-Catterton
School of Dance
Michal Tvrdik
School of Music
Bryce Wallace
Department of Film & Media Arts, Entertainment Arts & Engineering
Retiring and Emeritus Faculty
Ellen Bromberg
School of Dance
Distinguished Professor Ellen Bromberg is a choreographer, filmmaker, mediadesigner, curator and educator. A former dancer and choreographer with Utah’s Repertory Dance Theater, she has received numerous awards for her work including a Guggenheim Fellowship, three Bay Area Isadora Duncan Dance Awards, a Bonnie Bird American Choreographer Award, grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Arizona Commission on the Arts, and the George Soros Foundation, among others. She has also been honored with a Pew National Dance/Media Fellowship, a UC Berkeley Townsend Humanities Fellowship, and two UC Davis Granada Artist-in-Residence Awards. Ellen’s screen works havebeen presented on public television stations, online channels, and at numerous national and international dance film festivals including Lincoln Center’s Dance on Camera Festival,Cinedans Amsterdam, VideoDanza, Buenos Aires, and Dance Camera West, Los Angeles, to name a few. Recent work focuses on the integration of media in performance and she has designed video for stage and installations in her own work and in collaboration with other choreographers including Della Davidson, Zvi Gotheiner, Pat Graney, Deborah Hay, Stephen Koester, Victoria Marks, Douglas Rosenberg, Doug Varone among others. Ellen is a recipient of a 2012 Distinguished Innovation and Impact Award and is the founding director of the Universityof Utah International Screendance Festival, which began in 1999. Ellen has also designed the first Graduate Certificate in Screendance, in collaboration with the Department of Film & Media Arts, which is now in its seventh year.
Kathy Pope
School of Music
Professor Kathy Pope has been active musically in the Salt Lake area for many years as a teacher, clinician, adjudicator, and performer. Professor Pope was the Principal Clarinetist for Ballet West and also performed frequently with the Utah Symphony. She has played with the Opus Chamber Orchestra, Utah Chamber Artists, and has been a soloist with the Salt Lake Symphony. She is the National Clarinet Repertoire Consultant for the Music Teachers National Association. Her compact disc recordings, "From Bach to Gershwin," "Clarinet Kaleidoscope," and "A French Soirée" have all received critical acclaim. The American Record Guide cited her most recent CD, "A French Soirée," as “absolute perfection” and The Clarinet said, “this recording is very worthy of anyclarinetist’s library.” Ms. Pope has been very active in the International Clarinet Association including soloing at theconventions in Stockholm, Salt Lake City and Washington D.C. She was the conference coordinator for the 2003 Clarinet Association convention at the University of Utah. She has served as coordinator for the Orchestral Audition and High School Competitions, and is the Utah State Chair. Ms. Pope is an artist-clinician for both Buffet Crampon USA and Rico International.
Steve Roens
School of Music
Dr. Steve Roens holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in anthropology from Swarthmore College, a Master of Fine Arts degree in music theory and composition from Brandeis University, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in composition from Columbia University. He studied composition with Seymour Shifrin, Martin Boykan, Arthur Berger, Chou Wen-Chung, Jack Beeson, and Mario Davidovsky. He is the recipient of fellowships from the MacDowell Colony and the Composers' Conference, and a former visiting assistant professor at Wellesley College. Roens's writing is freely atonal, rhythmically fluid, and spare. It has been called by one critic, neo-Webernian. Primarily for chamber groups of varying sizes and soloists, pieces have been commissioned by the Stony Brook Contemporary Chamber Players, the Nova Chamber Music Series, the Intermezzo Chamber Music Series, and pianists Jason Hardink, and Rebecca La Brecque. His music is published by the Association for the Promotion of New Music and is available on the Centaur label. As a teacher of composition, while his background and practice are informed by the literature of atonal music, Roens’s approach to teaching helps students find their own voices and originality in whatever direction their stylistic predilections evolve. In addition to teaching music theory andcomposition, during his 30 year career at the University of Utah Dr. Roens took on a variety of administrative positions, serving at different times as Associate Dean of the College of Fine Arts, as Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies, as Director of the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, and as Head of the School of Music Composition Area. Roens enjoyed dividing his time between teaching and his administrative duties and believes that these differenta ctivities can support each other in a variety of ways.He is also an avid photographer, amateur astronomer, and hiker.
CFA Faculty Excellence Awards 2020
Faculty Excellence in Research
Jane Hatter
School of Music
"Since her research transcends the field of Music and crosses over into Art and Culture, Dr. Hatter has an excellent record of engagement with scholars in the field of musicology as well as scholars in other research areas of Medieval and Renaissance Studies. In 2019 she presented her work at the Medieval-Renaissance Music Conference in Switzerland, the 25th Annual Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies and Medieval Association of the Pacific Joint Conference, and at an International Symposium at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts. In past years she also presented at conferences that are more broadly aimed at medieval and renaissance scholars, such as the conference of the Renaissance Society of America (in 2017 and 2018), and at the Medieval Association of the Pacific 50th Annual Conference (2016). She also has presented her work at important musicology conferences, such as the North American British Musical Studies Association (2018), and the Annual Meeting of the American Musicological Society (2018), which is the most prestigious U.S. annual meeting for musicologists."
- Faculty nominator
Faculty Excellence in Teaching
Carol Sogard
Department of Art & Art History
"Professor Sogard offers students a space to explore design in ways that they’ve yet been able to imagine, and helps them find the independence they need to become confident designers...Carol makes a point to teach her students that their work has an impact on the world around them. Her approach in the classroom is focused on connection and community building, and she makes a point to educate her students about important issues in or society, while also giving us the tools that allow us to use our design practice to create discussion and positive change. Her passion for sustainable design has been inspiring, and her efforts have helped my classmates and myself educate not only ourselves, but those around us."
- Graphic Design student nominator
Staff Excellence Award
Penny Caywood
Artistic Director, University of Utah Youth Theatre
Department of Theatre
"Penny Caywood's years of service to the College of Fine Arts via her leadership of Youth Theatre at the U has inspired thousands of young people and families via the unique and robust educational programming and performance opportunities she directs year-round. Mrs. Caywood’s positive energy, genuine approach to teaching and directing K-16 as well as her ability to adapt theatre teaching core content to meet the needs of diverse learners and students is truly remarkable. Her ability to sustain and create new community engaged partnerships across the college, campus, and state is impressive. She is an amazing asset to the college for providing high quality arts experiences for young people, which in turn creates a direct recruiting pipeline for the college and university as a whole."
- Nominator
University of Utah Distinguished Teaching Award
Beth Krensky
Department of Art & Art History
"Dr. Krensky has shown deep, enduring commitment to the development and implementation of cutting edge arts education curricula that pushes our arts teaching students to think inclusively and globally in an effort to forward the field of arts education. Presently, the community-based arts education research she is conducting is providing opportunities for select undergraduate and graduate students to experience the simultaneous ability to empower communities through art-making collaboration and partnership. These student researchers, through Dr. Krensky’s mentorship, are making important contributions to the field as they investigate global issues via art education, art-making, and community engagement. Dr. Krensky’s classes empower our arts teaching students to work authentically alongside young people and to utilize the community’s experiences as the inspiration for the creative work."
- Nominator
Make sure you check out all our other Convocation 2020 virtual content:
Videos from our student convocation speakers, Jae Weit and Sydney May here
CFA's Outstanding Seniors and Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher
Don't miss out on an opportunity to share your memories, photos, and thank you's at our online message board!
We'll be cheering for you. Stay connected at @uofucfaalumni!