Page Comparison

Marion Behr (BFA ’61, MFA ’62), who is owner/principal of WWH Press LLC, was selected as Top Professional of the Year in Writing and the Arts by the International Association of Top Professionals for her outstanding leadership, dedication and commitment to the profession.

Darren Sanefski (BFA ’85), associate professor of multiple platform journalism and associate director of the Magazine Innovation Center at the School of Journalism and New Media at the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss), recently co-authored the textbook "Effective Graphic Design,” which introduces projects first and covers design concepts and tools as they are needed. He is also a Society for News Design board member (education director). 

LaToya Ruby Frazier (MFA ’07) presented “What Is the Human Cost of Toxic Water and Environmental Racism?” as part of the TED Radio Hour episode “Our Relationship with Water.”

Robert L. Kasprzycki (BID ’74, MS ’96, MBA ’99) , owner/artist of Kasprzycki Artistry in Fayetteville, New York, will have an  art exhibition  Nov. 5 through Dec. 7 at the Adirondack Lakes Center for the Arts in Blue Mountain Lake, New York. He also recently published the novel  The Talisman , available Sept. 30 at most major book retailers.

Renee Cox (BFA ’78)  was recently appointed an assistant professor of visual arts at Columbia University. This fall she will be exhibiting work in group shows at the African American Museum in Philadelphia, Maccarone Gallery LA (Los Angeles), and Pen + Brush in New York City. She will also have a solo show at Cathouse Proper in Brooklyn, New York, and her  Baby Back  (2001) will tour America through 2024 as part of  Posing Beauty in African American Culture . She also photographed Nick Cave for the cover of  The New York Times Magazine , which will be released this October.

Helen Zughaib (BFA ’81)   and her father,  Elia Zughaib (BA ’51, MA ’52, PhD ‘57) , have published the book  Stories My Father Told Me  (Cune Press), a collection of 25 stories of Elia’s growing up in Damascus, Syria, under the French Mandate and his young adulthood in Lebanon before he immigrated to America in 1946. Helen painted each story included in the book.

Anthony J. “Tony” Zajkowski (BFA ’88)   is part of the editing team for the reality television show  Queer Eye , which won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Picture Editing for a Structured Reality or Competition Program.

Cheryl Powell (MA ’98)  is having a show of oil and watercolor paintings based on the town of Maysville, Kentucky, Oct. 4-28 at the Cox Gallery in Maysville. An opening reception will be held on Friday, Oct. 4, from 5-7 p.m. Visit Cheryl’s  website  for more information.

Wesley Clark (BFA ’01)   is having the solo exhibition  Reparations: Some are Just Owed and Some More than Others  through Oct. 31 at Galerie Myrtis in Baltimore.

Writer/director  J.D. Dillard (VPA ’10)  had “ An Open Letter To the Man Who Yelled “Go Back To Africa” At Me ” published in McSweeney’s.

Ozan Atalan (MFA ’16)  is showing the installation  Monochrome  (concrete, soil, water buffalo skeleton, video, 2019) at the 16th Istanbul Biennial. He also held the conversation “Anthropocentrism and Animal Breeding,” a discussion of the water buffalos of Istanbul, with Prof. Dr. Serhat Alkan of Istanbul University.

‘50s and ‘60s

Edward S. Lisk (B MUS ’56) is an internationally recognized clinician, conductor, and author whose numerous honors include the distinguished National Band Association’s 2015 Academy of Wind and Percussion Arts Award, the highest honor that the association can confer on any individual, as well as the Syracuse Symphony Outstanding Music Educator Award (2009), the Midwest Medal of Honor (2009), and the Phi Beta Mu Outstanding Contributor to Bands Award (2012). He is also an honored and elected member of the prestigious National Band Hall of Fame for Distinguished Conductors. Learn more about him at creativedirectorseries.org.

Barbara J. Klump (M MUS '59) had a long career in music, most recently in Southern California. She has served as organist of Our Lady of Grace in Encino, St. Bede the Venerable Catholic Church in La Cañada, and St. Therese of Avilleux, a large parish of the Carmelite Discalced Order. She is semi-retired from church organ work and continues teaching piano and organ. She is also an active member in the Glendale Branch of the Music Teachers Association of California as well as the Dominant Club, a singular group of professional and performing women musicians, which organization harks back to 1906 and includes many nationally and international women musicians.

Like his wife Barbara, George E. Klump (M MUS '59) enjoyed a long career as a music educator and musician. Now retired, he currently teaches piano and organ privately and is active in the Glendale Branch of the Music Teachers Association of California. Prior to his retirement, he served as organist for Loyola Marymount University, where he taught students there and accompanied the LMU choruses under Paul Salamunovich. Along with his church work, he managed to acquire the large Casavant Organ [84 ranks] designed and built by the late Lawrence Phelps, which was modeled after Syracuse University’s Holtkamp Organ in Crouse College.

Aviva Gold (BFA ’62) holds groundbreaking Painting From the Source® creative breakthrough workshops with people all over the world, most recently in Switzerland. She published the book Painting From the Source: Awakening the Artist's Soul in Everyone (HarperCollins) and is having a documentary made about her and her work. Videos of Aviva are available on YouTube.

‘70s and ‘80s

Vicki Feldman (BFA ’72) will receive Syracuse Sounds of Music Association’s annual Ovation Award on October 18 for her advocacy, dedication, and commitment to the Central New York music community. Vicki has been a freelance graphic designer in the Syracuse area for many years, and began providing graphic design and event planning services to a number of non-profit organizations as well as Central New York music and cultural organizations. She has also served on the boards of several CNY music organizations.

Terri Quirk (B MUS ’72) played clarinet professionally for 25 years with the Hartford Symphony core group for Simsbury Light Opera in Connecticut. She also played principal clarinet with the Torrington Symphony and the Farmington Valley Orchestra. She now plays with the Wind Ensemble and Concert Band of the Villages in Florida. 

Jay Aubrey Jones (BS ’76) was the baritone soloist in Leonard Bernstein’s SONGFEST with the Queens College Orchestra. He also sang the baritone role in Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms with Oratorio Society of Queens. This past spring he became an Internet sensation as the voice behind the “laurel” vs. “yanni” controversy. At this writing I am about to open at Goodspeed Musicals in East Haddam, CT as Underling in THE DROWSY CHAPERONE.

The University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) has promoted Darren Sanefski (BFA ’85)to associate professor of multiple platform journalism with tenure. He teaches graphic and multimedia design at the Meek School of Journalism and New Media, where he was also recently named associate director of the Magazine Innovation Center.

T.J. Stein (BFA ’86) opened an East Coast office of Stein Entertainment Group in New York City, now a bi-coastal talent management company. His book Next Stop, Hollywood was updated to a 2018 version.

‘90s

Julia Hechtman (BFA ’91) will be a Fulbright Scholar to Iceland in January 2019. She will be teaching at the Iceland Academy of Art in Reykjavik and working on her own projects in video.

Jon Steinberg (BS ’93) is executive producer of The Rookie starring Nathan Fillion, which premiered on ABC on October 16 at 10 p.m.

Nancy Harrison (MA ’94) illustrated interiors and more than 200 book covers for Penguin Workshop’s “Who Was…?” series, which reached No. 1 on the New York Times Best Sellers Series list in 2018. Netflix has also launched a 13-episode series based on the books in 2018. Nancy works as a full-time illustrator for magazines and children’s books and is launching a series of tutorials based on material taught in her Digital Painting courses on both the East Coast and West Coast.

Michele H. Cahill (BFA ’98) owns the growing business Pet Portrait Fun Inc, which was featured in the New York Times. She paints portraits of people’s pets in a fun whimsical way based on the pet's personality. She also published her first Pet Portrait “Pun” Adult & Kids Coloring Book and successfully introduced “Paint Your Own Pet Parties” in New York City, which allows her to teach people without an art background how to draw and watercolor their own pets. For those who don’t live in New York City she developed the “DIY Pet Portrait Fun Kit,” which includes a personalized sketch, hand-drawn instruction, and all art supplies. The kit was chosen to be sold on New York Makers.

Lauren Braun (BFA '99) was selected as an “Emerging Artist” in the 2018 Three Rivers Arts Festival. Pittsburgh International Airport transformed one of Lauren's mixed media paintings into a large-scale wall mural, on display through December 2018. The Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia purchased three of Lauren's collages for its new, permanent West Wing Art Collection. View more of her work at thelaurenbraun.com.