Dear Friends and Colleagues,
The spring is in full swing with performances, exhibitions, student showcases, travel and more, but I want to pause for a moment to celebrate some recent examples of excellence among our faculty and staff in the College of Fine Arts.
I recently had the pleasure of attending the Faculty Authors Reception, hosted by the provost. We had four faculty member books among those being celebrated:
- Music Theory Professor Eric Drott’s Streaming Music, Streaming Capital (Duke University Press, 2023), which examines the economics of music streaming platforms.
- Musicology Professor Hannah Lewis’ La La Land (Oxford University Press, 2024), which offers a new perspective on the aesthetic and cultural significance of the 2016 film La La Land.
- Arts and Entertainment Technologies Assistant Professor of Practice Andrew Augustin’s Dream. Create. Play. 2D Animation for Games (Kendall Hunt Publishing Company, 2024), a hands-on guide to 2D game animation.
- Theatre Professor KJ Sanchez’s The Radical Act of Listening: Making Documentary and Investigative Theatre (Routledge, 2024), which explores best practices in the field of documentary and investigative theatre.
We were also thrilled to learn that three staff members in our college were selected for the 2025 President’s Outstanding Staff Awards:
- Joe Jernejcic, director of facilities in the College of Fine Arts
- Bianca Hooi, executive and artistic project manager in Texas Performing Arts
- Dana McLaughlin, audience services coordinator in the Department of Theatre and Dance
You can read more about each of these three staff members, their work and why their managers say they’re such a valuable part of our teams in this news story.
Please join me in congratulating these outstanding faculty and staff members. I want to express my sincere gratitude to all of our faculty and staff for all that you do to help support our college’s educational and research mission.
Sincerely,
