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SPRING 2004
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The faculty and staff of the College of Fine Arts (CFA) are what make us a great place to study for a life in the arts. In general, most organizations that rank institutions of higher education tend to focus on the professorial, those individuals hired on the strength of their national visibility and potential to enhance a university’s profile. Within this context, I am pleased to announce that Joyce Neimanas, former chair and current professor of photography at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, will join our Department of Art and Art History’s photography program in fall 2004.
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| Dean Moy thanks Gary and Elena Goodman, who kindly hosted the West Side Story "Cast Party" in their beautiful home. The event celebrated the successful collaboration of the CFA Department of Theatre and Dance and the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, which resulted in three sold-out performances in March. |
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| Expect a deeper discussion of what Professor Neimanas brings to our campus in our fall newsletter when we also will introduce several other newly appointed faculty, which will result from current national searches. They will join our distinguished faculty and add their own unique talents and perspectives to our rich academic mix.
Being a great place for creative activity and research strengthens the CFA’s role as the state’s primary venue for arts education. Here, the distinctions between professors, adjunct faculty and staff begin to disappear, as we all have something valuable to contribute. In this newsletter, we will periodically highlight some of these people, as we’ve done in this issue with the article on adjunct faculty. Ultimately, we are first and foremost painters, composers, cultural theorists, musicians, printmakers, filmmakers, sculptors, singers, photographers, choreographers, stage directors, playwrights, artists all. I am proud to serve with such a distinguished community of artists and scholars. I am also very pleased with the new look of our newsletter, which has been redesigned by our alumna Tina Kachele, who received both her master of arts and master of fine arts degrees from UNM. A brief profile of her is included in this issue. Thanks to support from our Alumni Chapter, we are including more extensive coverage of alumni in this newsletter. Our alumni represent both our past and our future. We are proud of their many accomplishments and grateful for their ongoing support.
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adjunct faculty bring
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In each of the four College of Fine Arts (CFA)
departments—Art and Art History, Media Arts, Music, and Theatre and Dance—adjunct faculty play a key role in the teaching and mentoring of students.
These gifted individuals instruct on a part-time basis in their particular areas of expertise, bringing a vital dynamic to their departments. Susan Dever, chair of Media Arts, says her department is “more than proud of our exceptional part-time teaching staff. Ranging from film historian Dr. Carl Mora to video artist Bryan Konesfsky, our five currently active instructors teach popular courses in screenwriting, studio production, film criticism, and media technology. Together this band has developed 16 different courses, teaching for a composite of nearly 50 years over the last two decades.”
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| Martin Facey, chair of Art and Art History, has a personal take on adjuncts: “I was an adjunct for 16 years in Los Angeles before I started with UNM as an assistant professor. As an adjunct, I enjoyed my role as the rogue, teach-and-run professor—the hired gun. Have chalk, will travel.”
Now, as chair, he sees the importance of adjuncts because they allow for the coverage of courses that otherwise might not be taught. The department utilizes gifted professionals who “bring exciting and unexpected wrinkles to our set curriculum.” Virginia Baich, the longest-serving adjunct in his department, brings her artistic abilities to teach painting and drawing and, coincidentally, is also Facey's wife.
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| Lana Kroth works with jazz students Emily Dunkin and Brad Rahmlow. |
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This semester 22 part-time adjunct faculty members are serving in the Department of Theatre and Dance. Chair Judith Chazin-Bennahum comments, “When we invite talented and distinguished members from the community to teach our theatre and dance classes, we extend the possibilities of our educational purpose. Since these faculty members also teach in Albuquerque and its environs, we touch base with younger, older and more diverse groups.” Chazin-Bennahum cites Lana Kroth, who teaches jazz for the department, as an example of the type of extraordinary artist who also functions as one of her adjunct faculty.
These faculty “provide profoundly important and exciting additions to the regular curriculum.” This April Kroth was honored with a Bravos award from the Arts Alliance for Excellence in Dance.
Susan Dever sums up the many benefits adjuncts bring to the College: “The combustion of their energies fuels us all.”
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