News

Featured News
Twelve VPA Faculty Receive 2021 CUSE Grants for Research and Scholarly Projects

Syracuse University’s Office of Research has awarded funds to 12 faculty members in the College of Visual and Performing Arts for the fourth round of the annual internal grant program to provide intramural funding for faculty research and scholarly projects. Read More...
Faculty News

Whitney Phillips, assistant professor in the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies, wrote the column "Beware 'Smokescreen Trolling,' Trump Followers' Favorite Tactic" in Wired, for which she serves as a columnist.
Featured News
I Dream of…Research? CRS Graduate Theses

To fulfill the department’s requirements, communication and rhetorical studies (CRS) graduate students have a choice to make: complete comps (or comprehensive exams) or work on a graduate thesis. Students who choose the latter option then dedicate their graduate career to discovering what they would like to research for a thesis that can span from 50 to 125 pages. In the final semester of the two-year program, students then present and defend their thesis. Recently, CRS first-year master's students specified what their thesis topics are. Below, two students discuss their thesis plans. Read More...
Featured News
CRS Majors Offer Advice for New Students

Within the College of Visual and Performing Arts, the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies (CRS) currently houses around 400 students. Among the undergraduate body, there are many individuals who are not only eager to hone their knowledge of communication but are also eager to give back to the CRS community. Three current students agreed to be interviewed about their experiences in the department and provide advice for new students. Read More...
Featured News
VPA’s Department of Transmedia Remembers Faculty Member Leo Crandall

Leo Crandall, a filmmaker, musician and instructor of film in the College of Visual and Performing Arts’ (VPA) Department of Transmedia, died unexpectedly on Saturday, May 29, in Syracuse. He was 67. Read More...
Featured News
Setnor’s William Knuth Named Mentor of the Year by Center for Fellowship and Scholarship Advising

William Knuth, assistant professor of applied music and performance, in the College of Visual and Performing Arts' Setnor School of Music, has been named the Center for Fellowship and Scholarship Advising’s 2021 Mentor of the Year. The annual award recognizes a faculty member for exemplary dedication to students and support of their pursuit of nationally competitive scholarships. Knuth was nominated by Hannah Comia G’21, a Fulbright applicant and 2021 recipient of the American-Scandinavian Foundation Fellowship.
Featured News
Making Beats, Building Community

The music education program in the Setnor School of Music and School of Education has partnered with the local nonprofit Mercy Works to offer a digital music lab.
Featured News
Empathy for Innovation

Industrial and interaction design student Gokul Beeda '21 uses thoughtful design solutions to help humans stay healthy with the aid of technology.
Faculty News

Kelly Gallagher, assistant professor of film in the Department of Transmedia, created animations for “Chance,” an episode of “Worn Stories,” a docuseries on Netflix in which real people unpack the fascinating and quirky stories around their most meaningful pieces of clothing. “Chance” features the actress Charo.
Featured News
Meet VPA’s 2021 Senior Class Marshals

Each year, the College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) select two seniors as class marshals to represent the college at Syracuse University’s Commencement. These students reflect high achievement in academics and service to the college and represent those qualities that most distinguish the graduating class. The VPA Class of 2021 class marshals are Nurie Metodieva of the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies and Alexis Mohammed of the School of Art. Read More...
Featured News
Setnor’s Elisa Macedo Dekaney Honored as Meredith Professor of Teaching Excellence

Elisa Macedo Dekaney, associate dean of research, graduate studies and internationalization in the College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) and professor of music education in VPA and the School of Education, was named a 2020-23 Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professorship of Teaching Excellence. Read More...
Featured News
Eleven VPA Undergraduates Awarded Spring Research Funding from the SOURCE

Eleven College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) students were among the 93 Syracuse University undergraduates who received funding from the University’s Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Engagement (the SOURCE) in the form of SOURCE Grants (up to $5,000) and Renée Crown University Honors Program Awards (up to $5,000). Read More...
Featured News
Four VPA Students Named 2021-22 Remembrance Scholars

Four College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) students are among the 35 students chosen by Syracuse University’s Remembrance Scholar Selection Committee to be the 2021-22 Remembrance Scholars. Read More...
Featured News
Intelligence++ Competition Winners Announced

Three interdisciplinary teams that included students from the College of Visual and Performing Arts won the inaugural Intelligence++ design and entrepreneurship competition held at Syracuse University Libraries’ Blackstone LaunchPad & Techstars (LaunchPad) on April 16.
Featured News
Fusion of Art and Science Leads to Discovery

After ten years and more than 2,000 lava “pours”—simulated lava flows using a furnace, a crucible and molten rock—Robert Wysocki of the College of Visual and Performing Arts and Jeffrey Karson of the College of Arts and Sciences are two of four collaborating authors of a recent paper in one of the world’s premier peer-reviewed science journals that demonstrates how planets made primarily of metal might form.
Faculty News

Isabel Prochner, assistant professor of industrial and interaction design in the School of Design, co-authored and co-edited “Situating Design in Alberta” (University of Alberta Press), which introduces Alberta designers and design work and their local/global contexts—social, cultural, historical, physical, political, and economic. Read More...
Featured News
Department of Drama Releases Digital Senior Showcase

The Department of Drama the College of Visual and Performing Arts introduced its acting and musical theater Class of 2021 today via a new website: SyracuseShowcase.com. The website offers a digital version of the department’s annual Lewis Hecker New York City Drama Showcase, which is usually held at the end of the spring semester in front of a live audience of industry professionals. Read More...
Faculty News

School of Art Director Robert Wysocki, associate professor of studio arts and the Doris E. Klein Endowed Professor of Art, co-authored the article “Imagining and constraining ferrovolcanic eruptions and landscapes through large-scale experiments,” which was published on Nature.com. Large-scale experiments carried out at the Syracuse University Lava Project offered insight into ferrovolcanism, a long-theorized idea of metallic lava flows on planets and moons in the solar system, yet to be observed in nature. Read More...
Featured News
VPA Junior Cameron Gray Named as a 2021 Beinecke Scholar

Cameron Gray, a junior film major in the Department of Transmedia in the College of Visual and Performing Arts, has been named the recipient of a 2021 Beinecke Scholarship. She is the second Beinecke Scholar in Syracuse University’s history. The award provides graduate funding and mentorship for juniors in the arts, humanities or social sciences.
Featured News
Audio Arts Student Searches for Second Chances

Allie Westbrook, an audio arts student in the Setnor School of Music, talks about her transition from undergraduate to graduate studies amid a year unlike any other. She graduated with a B.M. in sound recording technology from the Setnor School in May 2020 and was a Remembrance Scholar. Like many students, 2020 left her searching for closure and second chances.