The West Virginia University College of Creative Arts presented its annual faculty awards during a recent ceremony at the Creative Arts Center.
The presentations included the Outstanding Teacher Award, the Award for Excellence in Research & Creative Activity, the Teaching With Technology Award, the Service Award, and a new award this year—the Outstanding Adjunct Faculty Award.
Dean Paul Kreider and Associate Dean William Winsor made the announcements, along with Alison Helm, director of the School of Art & Design, Keith Jackson, director of the School of Music, and Joshua Williamson, director of the School of Theatre & Dance.
The award winners are:
Outstanding Teacher Award—Rhonda Reymond, assistant professor of art history
Reymond received a master’s degree and a doctorate in art history from the University of Georgia where her fields were American art and architecture and European art and architecture of the 19th century. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a double major in historic preservation and interior design from the Savannah College of Art and Design. Reymond’s teaching fields are Baroque, 19th century, and American and African American art and architecture. Her research examines constructions of identity and trans-nationality in the work of late 19th- and early 20th-century artists and architects of the United States, including James McNeill Whistler, Henry Ossawa Tanner, Albert A. Smith, and Richard Morris Hunt. She has also published in the area of art history pedagogy. Reymond is the interim director of the Art and Cultural Property Crime Studies program and collaborates on the Disegno Italia Study Abroad Program at WVU.
Excellence in Research/Creative Activity Award—Joseph Lupo, associate professor of printmaking
Lupo received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Bradley University and his Master of Fine Arts from the University of Georgia. His work has been a part of more than 70 different solo and group exhibitions in 30 states and internationally in Denmark and Italy. Notably, his work has been shown at the International Print Center of New York, The Contemporary Art Workshop in Chicago, The Print Center in Philadelphia, The Contemporary Art Center in Atlanta and The Museum of Fine Arts at Florida State University among other locations. Lupo’s work has been collected in 27 permanent collections, including the Denver Art Museum, the Museum of Texas Tech University, the Special Collections Department & Rare Books Room at the University of Colorado, and the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Duke University. He has presented his research at major national and international arts conferences including the “Printmaking and the Mundane” panel at the 2010 College Arts Association Conference in Chicago and “Reductive Navigation” panel at the 2012 Southern Graphics Council International Conference in New Orleans. Currently Lupo serves on the Board of Directors of Artists Image Resource, a non-profit print shop and gallery located in Pittsburgh’s North Side. He has also served as president and secretary of SGC International, the country’s largest printmaking organization.
Teaching with Technology Award—Robert Klingelhoefer, associate professor of scenic design
Klingelhoefer’s work has been seen extensively in New York and regionally for companies including the Walnut Street Theatre, Capital Repertory Theatre, The Texas Shakespeare Festival, Pan Asian Repertory Theatre, Jean Cocteau Repertory Theatre, The Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre, The Asolo Theatre Company, The National Playwright’s Festival at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center, The Cricket Theatre and The New York State Theatre Institute. Internationally he has had work produced at the Festival of Experimental Theatre in Cairo, Egypt, and the Market Theatre in Johannesburg, South Africa. He was, for many years, the resident designer at the Fulton Theatre in Lancaster, Pa., where he designed more than 100 productions, including world premieres of “The French Lieutenant’s Woman,” and a new musical version of “A Christmas Carol,” among others.
Outstanding Service Award—Kristina Olson, associate professor of art history
Olson has a master’s degree in art criticism and art history from Stony Brook University and a bachelor’s in humanities with a minor in art history from the University of Oregon. She is a contributor to the forthcoming book “The Art of the Critique,” was a contributor to the “Kartoon Kings: The Graphic Work of Simon Grennan and Christopher Sperandio (2007),” and co-editor of “Blanche Lazzell: The Life and Work of an American Modernist (2004).” She has been an exhibition reviewer for such periodicals such as “Art in America,” “Art Papers” and “Sculpture Magazine” and is the exhibition reviews editor for the “Southeastern College Art Conference Review.” She serves on the Board of Directors and Program Committee for the West Virginia Humanities Council, the Board of the Southeastern College Art Conference, and served for eight years on the WVU Faculty Senate. Olson serves as associate director of the School of Art & Design.
Award for Adjunct Faculty Experience—Brian Plitnik, instructor of trombone
Plitnik completed a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Trombone Performance at WVU and is currently the director of the WVU Trombone Ensembles. In addition to performing with numerous musical theater orchestras, including West Virginia Public Theatre, Plitnik has performed with Emmanuel Brass, the Potomac Highlands Dance Band, the West Virginia Brass Quintet, the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra, the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra and the Maryland Symphony Orchestra Brass Quintet. Plitnik is the co-founder of Coronation Brass, a professional brass ensemble for hire in the tri-state area. He has served as a brass clinician and guest conductor in both Pennsylvania and Maryland.
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CONTACT: Charlene Lattea, College of Creative Arts
304-293-4359, Charlene.Lattea@mail.wvu.edu
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