News

Faculty News

Whitney Phillips, assistant professor in the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies, has written a new piece for Wired magazine: "It's Time to Defund Social Media."
Featured News
Exploring Heritage and Tradition Through Music in Ghana

When Setnor School of Music alumnus Samuel Kuffuor-Afriyie ’20 was a child in New York City, he started playing the alto saxophone. By the time he was in third grade, he had joined the school band and expanded his musical repertoire to include piano. As his proficiency grew, he became captivated by the huge, rich sounds of the organ that filled the church during the services his family attended regularly. It would be years before his dream of playing the organ was fulfilled, but that vision was finally realized when he sat before the magnificent 3,823-pipe Holtkamp organ in Syracuse...
Faculty News

Andrew Saluti, assistant professor of museum studies in the School of Design, was interviewed on CGTN’s "Global Business America" to discuss the reopening of cultural sites and museums around the world.
Faculty News

Sam Van Aken, associate professor of studio arts in the School of Art, was quoted in the Fast Company article "How 80 artists protested immigration abuses over July 4th weekend." Similar articles appeared in Wired, the Los Angeles Times (subscription required), and Dezeen. Read More...
Faculty News

Whitney Phillips, assistant professor in the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies, was interviewed for the NBC News story “Before the holiday weekend, Facebook decided to ‘go loud’ with an alert: wear a mask” and the Philadelphia Inquirer article “Antifa rumors and hoaxes have stoked real fear in Philadelphia neighborhoods.”
Featured News
Goal-Minded Focus

All-American lacrosse player Stephen Rehfuss '19, an alumnus of the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies, put his post-college plans on hold to return to Syracuse and pursue a national championship.The opportunity to return for another season was one Rehfuss fully embraced. After discussions with his family, coaches and teammates, he decided to defer his enrollment at Albany Law School for a year. Read full story
Featured News
Join one of the world’s top designers, Gianfranco Zaccai ’70 H’09, on July 1 for a chat on innovation and social impact

Join us this week for an incredible opportunity to meet Gianfranco Zaccai, arguably among the top design innovators in the world, who will be joining us from Italy on Wednesday, July 1 at 3 p.m. at this Zoom link: https://bit.ly/LaunchPadSummer The chat is part of an ongoing series in partnership with The Republic of Tea. Joining him as panelists will be:
- Don Carr, VPA Professor of Design, Coordinator of the School of Design’s M.F.A. in Design and Coordinator of VPA’s Industrial and Interaction Design Program;
- Dr. Louise Manfredi, Assistant VPA Professor of Industrial and Interaction Design, Syracuse Center of Excellence Faculty Fellow and Director,
...
Featured News
Oladeji Awe ’20 Combines Design Innovation and Entrepreneurship

As a fifth year thesis for his industrial and interaction design major in the School of Design, Oladeji Awe ’20 designed a technology to alert wheelchair bound or immobile individuals when they need to move around and stretch. Although he has graduated, he’s working tirelessly throughout the summer to further design his technology. He’s planning to study fashion wearables and technology in graduate school to better understand how his technology can be seamlessly compatible with an individual’s everyday life. He received a SOURCE undergraduate research grant and is currently working on building a team to program it. Read...
Faculty News

Kendall Phillips, professor in the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies, was featured in the Deseret News story How ‘Looney Tunes’ joined the culture wars.
Faculty News

Whitney Phillips, assistant professor in the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies, was quoted in the Wired article “How to Avoid Spreading Misinformation About the Protests” and the MIT Technology Review story “How to protect yourself online from misinformation right now.”
Featured News
Incoming Drama Major Alethea Shirilan-Howlett ’24 Debuts First Full-Length Play on YouTube on Sunday

Growing up, Alethea Shirilan-Howlett ’24, a senior at Jamesville-DeWitt (J-D) High School and an incoming first-year drama major (theater management track) in the College of Visual and Performing Arts, dreamed of being an actress. After attending a pre-college arts program at Brandeis University in July 2018, she was inspired to pursue playwriting. That summer, Shirilan-Howlett spent time immersing herself in the music of and documentaries on the iconic 1960s folk rock group The Mamas and the Papas. “I was completely enthralled with the band story and decided I wanted to write a play about a band,” she says. On Sept. 1,...
Faculty News

Will Knuth, assistant professor of violin in the Setnor School of Music, was a guest on WCNY's "Classical Companion" with Diane Jones and discussed his current projects and the music he is listening to now. Listen to the interview and his playlist.
Featured News
Student Designers Create Marketing Materials for the Greater Good

Communications design majors help a local nonprofit rebrand fundraising materials to better serve the homeless in Central New York. Every student who majors in communications design in Syracuse University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts takes a class that goes beyond skill building and enhances their connection to the Central New York community. “Design Management (CMD 352) is a course where the classroom ultimately becomes a working design studio with a real client to serve,” says Michele McCaffrey, assistant professor of communications design. This spring, the students enrolled in CMD 352 took on an especially rewarding challenge. Their client was John Tumino, founder...
Faculty News

Rebecca Kelly, assistant professor of communications design in the School of Design, received a 2020 Chancellor's Citation for Excellence from Syracuse University for Outstanding Contributions to Student Experience and University Initiatives. This award is made to members of the University faculty and staff who, through their work, have enhanced the undergraduate experience for students or made invaluable contributions to supporting and advancing the University’s mission and goals. Read More...
Featured News
Quinn King selected as top ten U.S. design student for national Whipsaw showcase

Quinn King ’20, industrial and interaction design major, has been selected by Whipsaw for its first national senior showcase featuring the top 10 industrial design students in the U.S. from the class of 2020. They will present their senior projects to a group of top industrial design professionals, firms and academics. Participating universities nominated one senior project that stood out for its bold vision and originality. The works being featured in this event will give a sampling of what’s to come in the next generation of 2020s design. King was nominated by the School of Design to represent Syracuse...
Featured News
That’s a Wrap: An Improvised Ending to a Semester of Firsts

Moving from the studio to the Zoom screen, first-year acting students in the College of Visual and Performing Arts use role-playing games and movies to hone their craft. Im•pro•vise: A verb meaning to create and perform spontaneously and without preparation. From the basement mudroom-turned-virtual classroom at his home in Syracuse, Assistant Professor Ricky Pak jokes he knows that definition very well. In fact, Pak and first-year students in his Introduction to Acting course learned and lived improvisation as they moved from their studio classroom on campus to a remote learning environment this spring following the COVID-19 outbreak. They wrapped up the semester with...
Featured News
New Inclusive Entrepreneurship Program Launching through Gift from Intelligence++ Foundation

An innovative, interdisciplinary program focused on inclusive entrepreneurship and design is being offered for the 2020-21 academic year in a partnership of the Blackstone LaunchPad powered by Techstars (LaunchPad) at Syracuse University Libraries, the Taishoff Center for Inclusive Higher Education (InclusiveU) and the College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) through a generous donation by Gianfranco Zaccai ’70 H’09 and the Zaccai Foundation for Augmented Intelligence (Intelligence++). The program will provide new courses open for fall enrollment and will culminate in a design and entrepreneurship competition with $30,000 in prizes. Read full story
Featured News
Remembering Jerry Stiller

Jerry Stiller ’50, the comedian best known for his roles on the television sitcoms "Seinfeld" and "King of Queens," died on May 11 due to natural causes. He was 92. A World War II veteran, he attended the University in 1947 tuition-free thanks to the GI Bill. He graduated in 1950 with a B.A. in speech and dramatic art. Read full story
Faculty News

Whitney Phillips, assistant professor in the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies, has published a new book online (open access) with co-author Ryan M. Milner. “You Are Here: A Field Guide for Navigating Polluted Information” (MIT Press) offers strategies for navigating increasingly treacherous information flows. Read more.
Faculty News

Alex Mendez Giner, associate professor of film in the Department of Transmedia, had his new experimental film “Displaced” screened at the 23rd International Encounters Traverse in Toulouse, France. Read More...