College of the Arts and Media Accomplishments and Publications
Throughout the academic year, the College of Arts and Media faculty and students have achieved remarkable accomplishments and published groundbreaking work in their respective fields. From receiving prestigious awards to having their research featured in top journals, our faculty members as well as our students have demonstrated excellence and dedication to advancing knowledge and creativity. Their publications have contributed significantly to the academic community and have garnered recognition for their innovative ideas and insights. We are proud to celebrate the achievements of our CAM faculty and students and look forward to their continued success in the years to come.
2025/26 Academic Year
School of Communication, Journalism, and Media
Elina Erzikova co-edited the Handbook of Innovations in Strategic Communication AI, Futurism and Directions and co-authored two peer-reviewed chapters, “Introduction: defining futurism in strategic communication: needs and directions” and “Vizualizing strategic communication research within a broader network of communication scholarship: a bibliometric analysis” in the Handbook.
Elina Erzikova was named Honors Faculty of the Year.
Matthew Craig published several articles, including “Human-Machine Communication Privacy Management, Privacy Fatigue, and the Conditional Effects of Algorithm Awareness on Privacy Co-ownership in the Social Media Context” in Computers in Human Behavior.
Kirsten Weber published several articles, including “Facilitation and interference from partners during the transition to parenthood: A co-occurrence analysis of themes emerging within and between romantic partners” in Family Communication, which was selected as Article of the Year for that publication.
Aiden Kosciesza published the article “Temporal Dysphoria: Trans Temporality Beyond Transition” in the Journal of Gender Studies.
Ryan Corso-Gonzales was elected President of National Educational Debate Association (NEDA) and received the President’s Award for his contributions to the circuit.
Jeff Sauger was awarded two Honorable Mentions at the 2026 AEJMC Festival of Visual & Interactive Media
Amy Sindik presented the paper “Is change to the live music industry on the horizon? Examining United States v. Live Nation Entertainment” at the Broadcast Education Association. This paper won the 1st place award in the Law & Policy division.
Eric Limarenko edited the film A Benton Harbor Story, a film by CMU Sociology faculty member Cedric Taylor, which examines how racism, infrastructural decline, and the erosion of democracy converged to produce a water crisis. Their first collaboration, Nor Any Drop to Drink, examined the Flint water crisis, won film awards around the world.
School of Music
CMU School of Music selects Presser Scholar Saxophonist Jacob Bissonnette
Nexus Saxophone Quartet selected as Alternates in the Music Teachers National Association National Chamber Music Competition
Elysian Saxophone Quartet selected as Semi Finalists in the North American Saxophone Quartet Biennial Conference Competition
Faculty
Alicia Valoti - Fulbright Scholar – currently in Italy working on undiscovered works for viola from the 19th century at Florence Conservatory
Chris Chapman – CMU Wind Ensemble – selected to perform at the College Band Director National Association conference in Ann Arbor April 10, via competitive ‘blind’ audition.
Amon Eady – CMU Chamber Singers – selected to perform at the American Choral Directors Association conference in Milwaukee in February 2026 via competitive ‘blind’ audition.
Cole Bartels - Winner of the 2026 University of Tennessee '40 Over 40' Alumni Award
Alumni
David Biedenbender was the recipient of the 2025 Barlow prize for music composers. He was selected from 526 submissions from 46 countries. David is a Professor of Composition at Michigan State University.
Matt Shephard – 4-time Top 10 Grammy Music Educator of the Year Finalist (2023-26), and also named a 2025 Country Music Association Music Teacher of Excellence.
2023/24 Academic Year
Department of Art and Design
CMU graphic design students win AAF district Gold Addy Award and Best of Show at AAF Lansing. On February 22nd, the American Advertising Federation honored CMU graphic design graduates from the class of 2023 with the Best of Show award in the student category. Additionally, the students received a Gold Addy Award from AAF District 6, which represents the second tier of the AAF competition, where they competed against university students from the Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois regions. CMU graphic design alumni Gerald Westlund also received the Best of Show award in the professional category for his creative direction efforts at Traction Partners in Lansing, and current graphic design students Victoria Knieper and Veronica Lessing took home a Gold and Bronze Addy Award, respectively.
Professor Izzy Davis and a group of talented students went to Richmond, VA for the 58th Annual Conference of the National Council on Education in the Ceramic Arts. BFA Studio Art student, Melissa Navarre '24, received the prestigious Regina Brown Undergraduate Fellowship at the conference. Professor Davis also gave a talk about the fascinating connection between clay and sound that he and Melissa researched together.
Department of Theatre and Dance
Irene Ryan Nominee for Tartuffe: Kaeleigh Casavant for the role of Elmire!
Awards of Merit were also given to:
Lane Arms - Stage Management
Cole Bozung - Lighting Design
Rowan Wierda - Acting for the role of Damis
Ella Briggs - Acting for the role of Tartuffe
Irene Ryan nomination to Maisy McPhall for her portrayal of Eve in The Last Daughter!
Additional recognition goes out to:
Emma Hurley: CERTIFICATE OF MERIT FOR EXCELLENCE IN STAGE MANAGEMENT
Aleigha Cheng: CERTIFICATE OF MERIT FOR EXCELLENCE IN COSTUME DESIGN
Jarrod Kimble: CERTIFICATE OF MERIT FOR EXCELLENCE IN ACTING
Finnley Norman: CERTIFICATE OF MERIT FOR EXCELLENCE IN ACTING
Grace Ray: CERTIFICATE OF MERIT FOR EXCELLENCE IN ACTING
School of Communication, Journalism, and Media
WCMU Environmental Reporter Teresa Homsi received two Broadcast Excellence Awards from the MAB - Michigan Association of Broadcasters. Teresa received a ‘Best’ award in the Spot News category for her coverage of PFAS contamination at the former Wurtsmith Air Force Base in Oscoda as well as, a ‘Best’ award in the Community Involvement category, for her efforts to introduce students at Cheboygan Middle School to journalism.
Four CMU undergraduates presented their competitively selected papers at the Undergraduate Honors Conference sponsored by the Central States Communication Association. Their papers emerged from their projects in COM 352 Fall 2023. Liberty Guilmette presented her paper "January 6: An Analysis of Donald Trump's Speech at the Ellipse Rally." Giavanni Gullo presented her paper, "The Grateful Dead's Impact on the Environmental Movement." Lydia Soltis presented her paper, "Two Sides of the Mental Health Debate." Cody Wilson presented his paper, "Analyzing the Art of Ambiguous Rhetoric in American Pop Songs through Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA."
Edward A. Hinck participated on four panels: one relating to President Ford's participation in the 1976 presidential debates, another discussing recruitment and retention strategies for students interested in speech activities, and a third regarding the future of political debates in 2024 and beyond. Additionally, he served as a respondent to the top competitive papers for the Rhetorical Theory and Criticism group of CSCA.
CMU Master's Alum Amber Rozek and her advisor, Dr. Kirsten Weber, were recognized for their work on Amber's thesis project. Amber presented in the Top Graduate Student Led Papers session for the Health Communication Division. Her paper was titled, "Triadic Medical Encounters: Caregivers' Communicative Interventions on Behalf of Neurodivergent Patients".
College of the Arts and Media students working with CM Life won multiple individual awards at the 2024 Associated Collegiate Press Spring National College Media Conference. Photojournalism major Aurora Abraham won seventh place in the Reporting: Feature Story category for her story title “She Never Gave Up”. Photojournalism major Marie Underwood won seventh place in the Photojournalism Sports Photo category for her image of the CMU vs. Northern Illinois game on Tuesday October 31! Graphic Design and Advertising major Kendal Wilson won first place in the Advertisement: Print, Online, Video, Audio category for her United Apartments advertisement. Nico Mendoza was awarded 2nd place for the Associated Collegiate Press award in the DEI category!
School of Music
Dr. Keith Clifton presented his paper titled “Fascinating Rhythm: Ravel’s Boléro in Rock and Popular Culture” at the annual meeting of the Popular Culture Association in Chicago on March 28. As the largest academic conference focused on popular culture in North America, Clifton’s paper is part of a series of projects related to Ravel’s orchestral masterwork and its continued relevance.
Director of Bands, Dr. Chris Chapman, presented at the CBDNA North Central Division Conference, Friday, April 5, at Ohio State University. In partnership with Dr. Birch Browning and Dr. Carolyn Barber, their presentation is titled "Nurturing Artistry: Exploring the Influence of Performer Expertise on Ensemble Pedagogy."
Mario Sangret-Savalle, a Central Michigan University senior, has been awarded a prestigious Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange (CBYX) for Young Professionals Fellowship in Germany. Sangret-Savalle is an Honors program student from Gladwin, Michigan who is pursuing a major in vocal music.
Dr. Adrienne Wiley, was selected to present at the Northwest Chapter Regional Conference of the College Music Society in Vancouver, BC! Her presentation is titled “Barbara Pentland: A Powerful Source.” A lecture recital on her Sonata-Fantasy.
The CMU School of Music quartet-in-residence, the Xenia Quartet, has won a full package scholarship to the "Arianna String Quartet Chamber Music Festival" in St Louis, Missouri in June. The festival is a 10-day summer study of string quartet, and the Xenia Quartet will rehearse and perform with string faculty members from the University of Missouri-St Louis.
Hannah Costa premiered of her new piece “Searching” for alto saxophone! Commissioned by Professor Nichol, “Searching” made its debut at the 2024 North American Saxophone Alliance (NASA) Conference and was well received by members of the saxophone community at NASA. The piece is 7 minutes long and is comprised of three movements - I. Searching, II. Finding, III. Lost Then Found.
CMU Alumna Marybeth Minnis (BME '79), the Assistant Director of the School of Music and Assistant Professor of Bassoon at Central Michigan University, has been honored by the Mid-American Conference as CMU's winner of the Outstanding Faculty Award for Student Success.
Central Michigan University's School of Music faculty member, Dr. Alan Gumm, has made waves in the field of psychology with his recent publication in Frontiers in Psychology, the leading journal in the field. His article, invited by a team of international scholars, is part of the Motivation in Learning and Performance in the Arts and Sports special topics section.
Dr. Nancy Summitt presented at the College Music Society's 2024 Southern Chapter Conference. In partnership with Dr. Jeff Barbee from Ohio State University, they presented the result of their study, "Impact of Goal-setting Instruction on University Music Students' Experience of Flow."
Alumnus Andy Wheelock released a new album with New Stream Brass: A Step Forward!
Cello faculty, Dr. Jamie Fiste, received the Teacher of the Year award from the Michigan Chapter of the American String Teachers Association (MASTA).
