SMU Meadows 50th Anniversary

Loni Nunziata interviews SMU alum Marissa Mast ('11 Journalism with minor in Spanish) by Chris Coats

Haley Adams interviews SMU alum Thane Economou ('10 Cinema-Television) by Chris Coats

SMU CCPA student, Annalise Jackson interviews SMU alum Deepa Liegel ('17 Dance Performance; Arts Management minor) who is a company member with the Limón Dance Company.

SMU CCPA student, Jane Murphy interviews SMU alum Juan Francisco de la Guardia ('10 Cinema-Television) a writer and producer who has worked on shows for E! and Netflix as well as Undercover Boss. Based in Los Angeles, he is also a member of the Meadows 2050 Council.

SMU Meadows School of the Arts Student Saman Alibhai interviews SMU Alum Jordan Chlapecka ('11 Advertising & Anthropology). Chlapecka is the Associate Creative Director at VaynerMedia in NYC, and Dancer. Co-artistic director - Linked Dance Theatre.

SMU Meadows School of the Arts student Serena Price interviews SMU Alum Dan Carillo Levy ('09 Cinema Television). Levy is the Chief Creative Officer, Co-founder (2015) of Moxie 88 Film Studio; Producer of Little Bitches feature film by Moxie 88 and Sony Pictures (2017); Director of new projects for Lemon Films USA, 2012–15, projects included Spider-Man on Broadway and Casa De Mi Padre with Will Ferrell; Production team for Cannes Best Screenplay winner Guillermo Arriaga (The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005); Collaborated on The Burning Plain starring Charlize Theron and Jennifer Lawrence, and Words with Gods with Peter Gabriel and Damián Bichir; Director, writer and producer for Televisa on a special segment on the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics broadcast.

Abbie Cleveland (Spring ’21) interviews DJ “Shangela” Pierce (’03 CCPA). Pierce performed on the GLAAD Media Awards and alongside Lady Gaga in the Oscar winning film “A Star is Born.” He has also been named to the TIME Next 100 list and is the star of the new hit show “We’re Here” on HBO. Pierce shares captivating stories from his early years, life at SMU and a glimpse into his life as a much sought-after Hollywood rising star!

SMU Public Relations students Jon Evan Smelley ('22) and Morgan McCullough ('21) interview Sarah Montonchaikul ('14; Art History and French) an Objects Conservation Fellow with the Smithsonian American Arts Museum in this episode of "Hello, Hilltop!" Sarah shares experiences from her fellow role, along with other life experiences like her time at SMU. She is also a proud member of the SMU Meadows 2050 Council.

SMU students, Angelica-Jasmine (AJ) Bates ('21), Daniel Chow ('21), and Taylor Rudell ('21) interview ceramic artist, Marcello Ortega ('14) in this episode of "Hello, Hilltop!" Marcello is a Meadows 2050 Council member. He actually earned his undergraduate degree in finance and economics in 2014, but Dean Holland selected him for the Council because he now operates his own ceramics studio in Dallas. He has effectively parlayed the skills he obtained through his undergraduate coursework into building a reputable arts practice.

SMU students Maddie Johnson ('20) and Kori Goerlitz ('22) interview Kyle Hobratschk ('11) and Travis LaMothe ('13) of 100 West Corsicana Artist and Writer Residency, along with being members of the Meadows 2050 Council in this episode of "Hello, Hilltop!"

On today's episode of "Hello, Hilltop!" Nick Deangelis (‘22) talks with Samantha McIntyre ('00; Theatre), television writer and screenwriter; along with the founding member of the Hollywood theater company, "Meadows Basement." They discuss her recent work, which includes the Netflix indie film “Unicorn Store” directed by Brie Larson and her current role as a writer for “Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist” (NBC), which is currently filming its second season. They also touch on subjects like LA vs Dallas, what it takes to be in Hollywood, filming during COVID, and a variety of other topics.

In this episode of "Hello, Hilltop!" SMU Political Science and Corporate Communication and Public Affairs student Isabelle Redfield ('21) interviews Gabe Travers ('07; Journalism), senior director of product development at Hearst Television. Travers shares stories from his days as a student at SMU, along with highlights from his career and plans for the future.

SMU students Lauren Montgomery (’21) and Caitlyn Kallina (’21) interview Maura Sheffler (B.A. Music, ’11 and M.A./M.B.A. Arts Management and Business, ’13) of The Arts Community Alliance (TACA) in this episode of "Hello, Hilltop!"

SMU CCPA student Haley Mnick interviews Paula Selzer. Paula graduated from SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts, where she majored in Video and Cinema. She also co-authored the book "Adolphe Gouhenant: French Revolutionary, Utopian Leader, and Texas Frontier Photographer." Selzer is now in possession of a painting, found in France, which was created by her great-great-great-grandfather Adolphe Gouhenant. She is here today to discuss his fascinating legacy.

Sam Holland, Dean of the SMU Meadows School of the Arts introduces Meadows’ 2020 Commencement speaker, alumna Emily K. Graham, who shares her experience, life lessons, and insight with our Spring 2020 graduates in this podcast. "Emily is a 2007 graduate of the Meadows Division of Corporate Communication and Public Affairs. After completing her degree at SMU, she began her career in Dallas by helping clients navigate the 2008 financial crisis. That work led her to C-suite tables in New York City, where she continued to make significant career strides at FleishmanHillard, one of the largest communication firms in the world. In 2018, she became the youngest member of the firm’s executive leadership team. Most recently, Emily was appointed to be the firm’s first Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer, responsible for accelerating Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion across a global network of clients," shares Dean Holland in his introduction. Please join us in welcoming Emily Graham, SMU Meadows School of the Arts 2020 Commencement speaker. We know you will be inspired by her message.

Since winning the First Prize in the 1986 Naumburg International Cello Competition, Díaz has exhilarated both critics and audiences with his intense and charismatic performances. He has earned exceptional reviews for his “strongly personal interpretive vision” (The New York Times) and his “bold and imaginative” playing (The Boston Globe) and was awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant as well as a generous grant from the Susan W. Rose Fund for Music. He shares stories from his distinguished career and life.

Interview with Aaron Boyd, Director of Chamber Music, Professor of Practice in Violin Interim Head of Strings Music: Aaron Boyd "Schumann Piano Quintet in E-flat Major, op44 I. Allegro brillante"

Interview with William Joyce '81, SMU's very own Academy Award-winning filmmaker, bestselling author, children's illustrator, and film industry legend. Joyce's work includes writing and illustrating 50 bestselling and classic children's books. He's also written, produced or designed a number of major feature films for 20th Century Fox, Dreamworks, and Disney. Joyce began his film career doing design and story work on Pixar's "Toy Story" and "A Bug’s Life." Thank you to Ally Van Deuren ’15, for hosting Joyce's interview.

Rhonda Blair has directed and performed in over 70 productions and has created original solo and devised performance work. Her areas of interest include theatre and politics, feminism and theatre, alternative performance, and Anton Chekhov. She researches applications of cognitive science to acting, directing and text, particularly in how current research on the brain, body, thought, feeling, language, and cultural “ecologies” informs and empowers us when we make theatre. She has given keynotes and featured talks internationally for, among others, the Giving Voice conference at the Grotowski Institute (2016), the Michael Chekhov Symposium at the University of Zurich (2013), the Dialogues Between Theatre and Neuroscience Conference at Sapienza University in Rome (2013), and at the Symposium on Cognition, Kinesthetics, and Performance at University of Kent (2012). She directs in the Division of Theatre season.

Danny Buraczeski is Professor Emeritus of Dance at Southern Methodist University.  At SMU, he taught classic jazz dance technique, composition and choreography. He created new work on the students as well as remounting signature dances from his company’s repertory.

Patty Harrington Delaney is an Associate Professor in the Division of Dance. She served as Chair of the Division from 2012-2018 and, after 28 years on the dance faculty, is in her last year of teaching before retirement.

SMU Professors of Film and Media Arts, Rick Worland and Mark Kerins share their picks for movies to binge-watch during the holidays, which ones to avoid and even flicks that are underrated. Check out their holiday podcast now!

After completing bachelor's degrees in chemistry and mathematics, Mark Kerins realized watching, making, and writing about movies was more fun than working in a lab. So he went back to film school, and now teaches all areas of filmmaking at SMU. Aside from teaching, he makes his own films, does post-production work, and writes about surround sound, home theater, and Michael Bay (not all at the same time). He also serves as faculty advisor for SMU's Student Filmmakers Association and the Summer Film Production program. Outside of Film & Media Arts, Mark also works with SMU's Residential Commons program, serving as the Faculty-in-Residence for Morrison-McGinnis Hall (MoMac). In 2014, Mark was named a Meadows Foundation Distinguished Teaching Professor.

Dr. Rick Worland received his M.A. and Ph.D. in motion picture/television critical studies from UCLA. His teaching has included courses on film history, documentary and silent cinema, as well as popular genres including Westerns, horror/science fiction, film noir, European cinema and the films of Alfred Hitchcock. His research has focused primarily on popular film and television in the Cold War period. Worland has published in various academic journals including Cinema Journal, Journal of Film & Video, Journal of Popular Film & Television and Film and History. His first book, The Horror Film: An Introduction, appeared in 2007 from Blackwell Publishing. His recent book, Searching for New Frontiers: Hollywood Films in the 1960s, was published by Wiley Blackwell in 2018. He was the 1997-98 Algur H. Meadows Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Meadows School of the Arts.

Meredith Welborn, a junior at SMU majoring in creative advertising, journalism and French interviews her professor, Willie Baronet. Willie is the Stan Richards Professor in Creative Advertising. He's the former owner and creative director of GroupBaronet (now MasonBaronet). His advertising and design work has been featured in Communication Arts, Graphis, AIGA Graphic Design Annual, New York Art Directors Annual, The One Show, Print Casebooks, Annual Report Trends, The Type Directors Club Annual and Annual Report Design: A Historical Retrospective 1510-1990, organized by the Cooper-Hewitt National Museum of Design. His print and broadcast work has received numerous medals from the Dallas Advertising League’s Tops Show, the Dallas Society of Visual Communications and the Houston Art Directors Club. In 1999, he was a juror for the Communication Arts Illustration Annual. In 2013, Baronet was named an AIGA Fellow for making a significant contribution to raising the standards of excellence in practice and conduct in the creative community. This is the highest honor an AIGA chapter can bestow upon one of its senior-level members. Baronet has been buying and collecting homeless signs since 1993 as part of a long-term art project titled "WE ARE ALL HOMELESS." In 2014 he began a 31-day cross country trip to buy signs in 24 cities, which was the subject of the documentary Signs of Humanity, which premiered at the Dallas International Film Festival and has been accepted into seven additional festivals. He has done exhibits featuring these signs across the U.S. and in the UK. The project has been featured in dozens of international and local media, including Yahoo! News, NPR - All Things Considered, HuffPost, Al Jazeera America, BuzzFeed, Fast Company’s blog (posted by Katie Couric), and dozens of others. An UpWorthy video about the project that was uploaded on August 31, 2015 has been viewed over 6.4 million times.

Kyle Hobratschk, artist and founder at 100 West Corsicana Artist Residency and SMU alum with a BFA in Studio Art: Painting, Printmaking and Furniture interviews Sofia Bastidas, Pollock Gallery Director and Curatorial Fellow. Sofia Bastidas (b. Ecuador, 1987) is a curator and cultural producer who is interested in creating collaborative systems and networks to formulate a regenerative curatorial and historical research practice working with artists, scholars and organizers. Bastidas received a B.A. in art history from Florida International University, with a focus in contemporary art. In 2012, she founded Dwelling Projects, an itinerant residency program that generates partnerships with artists, institutions and alternative spaces in Latin America and the Caribbean. Bastidas has curated and organized exhibitions at Spinello Projects (Miami), Bakehouse Art Complex (Miami), Dimensions Variable (Miami), Espacio 20/20 (Puerto Rico) and The Girls’ Club Collection Annex Space (Fort Lauderdale), among others. In 2015, she was Cannonball’s local artist-in-residence and co-organized TVGOV, an independent research group that aims to direct government towards preservation of territory, as land and sea.

Temerlin Advertising Institute students recently visited the Nike world headquarters to interview Marc Patrick, SMU advertising alumnus ’93 and Senior Director of Global Brand Communications at Nike. His expertise and views on how certain moments and athletes can inspire purpose serve to guide SMU students and marketing professionals alike. https://calendar.smu.edu/site/meadows/event/exxonmobil-lecture-series-inspiring-purpose-at-nike-featuring-marc-patrick-93/

Barbara Hill Moore, Meadows Foundation Distinguished Teaching Professor of Voice in Meadows School of the Arts at SMU, has taught at SMU since 1974 and served as department chair from 1977 through 1992. Prior to her SMU appointment (1969-74), Professor Hill Moore taught at Millikin University in Decatur, Ill., the St. Louis Public School System and the St. Louis Archdiocese. She received a B.S. from Lincoln University of Missouri and an M.S. as a graduate Fellow from the University of Illinois in Champaign, Ill.

Dr. Maria Dixon Hall, associate professor of Organizational Communication interviews Dr. Owen Lynch, associate professor and director of Honors Program and SMU-in-London Internships, and Altshuler Distinguished Teaching Professor of Corporate Communication and Public Affairs.

David Mancini, director of SMU Meadows School of the Arts Division of Music and associate professor of Music Theory interviews the Wilfred Roberts, internationally renown bassoonist and adjunct professor, Bassoon. Wilfred Roberts is one of today's premier bassoonists. Internationally recognized for his consummate artistry, Roberts became principal bassoon of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in 1965, and retired from this position in October 2015. His 50-year tenure as principal bassoon is the longest on record for any major orchestra. He graduated with highest honors from Oberlin Conservatory and also studied at the Mozarteum Academy in Salzburg, Austria. Before beginning his career in the United States, he served as principal bassoon of the Camerata Academica Orchestra of Salzburg, touring throughout Europe and recording on the Deutsche Grammophone label. Examples of his extremely lyrical yet strong style and exceptional control of the instrument can be heard on extensive recordings with the Dallas Symphony on the RCA, Telarc, Angel, Pro Arte, Dorian and Delos labels. Throughout his career, in national and international tours, his playing has been described as that which represents the top of his profession. “Will Roberts is one of the orchestra members that has been with us the longest, yet he still plays like a young man,” says Jaap van Zweden, music director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. “He is as a father for the orchestra and his musicianship is an inspiration to us all.” Roberts is on the faculty of Southern Methodist University and has served on the faculties of the University of North Texas, University of Indiana and University of Michigan. He has performed in various leading summer festivals of music throughout his career. In addition to his long tenure as principal bassoon, he also served for over 40 years as personnel manager and contractor of musicians of the Dallas Symphony.

SMU Meadows School of the Arts professor, Dr. Rick Worland interviews Sean Griffin, a professor in the SMU Meadows Division of Film and Media Arts. Dr. Griffin received his Ph.D. from the University of Southern California in 1997; his dissertation became the book Tinker Belles and Evil Queens: The Walt Disney Company from the Inside Out, examining the relationships between Disney and lesbian/gay/queer culture. Griffin is also the co-author of Free and Easy: A Defining History of the American Film Musical Genre and co-author of America on Film: Race, Class, Gender and Sexuality at the Movies and Queer Images: A History of Lesbian and Gay Film in America. Prior to becoming a professor, Dr. Griffin helped produce television ad campaigns for Disney and Touchstone motion pictures, including Who Framed Roger Rabbit?; Dead Poets Society; Honey, I Shrunk the Kids; The Little Mermaid; Pretty Woman; Dick Tracy; and Beauty and the Beast.

Karen Drennan, SMU Meadows School of the Arts Associate Dean for Communications & Strategic Initiatives, interviews Zannie Voss, Professor; Director, National Center for Arts Research.

PODCAST OF CHARLEY HELFERT – Podcast interview of Charley Helfert conducted by one of his former SMU students - Janielle Kastner, a Dallas-based playwright, podcaster, and performer. She is a proud Meadows Theatre alumnus (Class of ‘13). Charley Helfert joined SMU in 1970; retired in 2013 Professor Emeritus of Theatre: Charles (Charley) Helfert, Associate Professor of Theatre in Meadows School of the Arts, earned a B.A. from St. Norbert College and both M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He joined SMU's theatre faculty in 1970. In his early years at SMU, he taught in the Meadows School's experimental arts program, which offered innovative children's classes both on campus and in the community. He was co-creator of a television series that won an award for children's programming at the Chicago Film Festival. Helfert served as both associate dean of Meadows School of the Arts and chair of the Division of Theatre. He has coordinated undergraduate recruiting for theatre during most of his tenure at SMU, and he has seen more than 40,000 high school actors in auditions. He helped theatre majors connect as teaching artists to the Dallas community through a collaborative class with Big Thought, a nonprofit organization that brings the arts to young people. He also taught classes on dramatic arts and creative dramatics within SMU's General Education curriculum. Helfert has been honored with SMU's "M" Award for outstanding service and the Meadows Foundation Distinguished Teaching Professorship. He retires as Professor Emeritus of Theatre.

Mary Vernon, professor emerita of art in Meadows School of the Arts, interviews Philip Van Keuren, SMU Meadows School of the Arts professor of art. Van Keuren has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions locally, nationally and internationally since 1972. He was a fellow at The MacDowell Colony, Peterborough, N.H., in 1978, and again in 2009, when he received the 2009-10 Patricia and Jerre Mangione Fellowship, awarded to distinguished artists and writers who have worked for at least 30 years. He received his B.F.A. (1974) and M.F.A. (1977) from Meadows School of the Arts, Southern Methodist University. Van Keuren is a 1975 fellow of the Whitney Museum of American Art Independent Study Program, New York. Vernon interviewed him as part of the SMU Meadows 50th Anniversary Celebration Faculty Podcasts.

Kathy Bates (a 1969 alumna) was on campus on Tuesday, May 7, for the Tate Lecture series. She was interviewed beforehand by 1980 alumna and actress Regina Taylor in the The Bob Hope Lobby to reminisce on her college years at SMU and legendary career.

Interview with Alessandra Comini, University Distinguished Professor of Art History Emerita who worked at SMU from 1974 to 2005. She had the honor of being interviewed by longtime Dean of Meadows School of the Arts (1978-1994), Eugene Bonelli.

Chris Coats' interview with retired art and art history professor, Mary Vernon.