This month, the College of Visual and Performing Arts celebrates its students who will earn their academic degrees. On December 8, 2023, the College will confer 123 degrees: 88 bachelor’s degrees, 28 master’s degrees and post-baccalaureate certificates, and 7 doctoral degrees. Additionally, two undergraduates, Stephen Osio and Cassidy Pruitt, will earn double majors within the College, and we will graduate the first student, Ethan Everhart, in our new concentration in Popular Music and Technology. 

CVPA is the only institution in North Carolina to offer terminal degrees in all four arts disciplines: the MFA in Art, Dance, and Theatre; and the DMA and PhD in Music. Of the three, the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) is the oldest, having first been awarded in medieval Paris around 1150. The University of Iowa admitted the first student into a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree program in 1940, and the Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) is the newest degree, having been pioneered by Howard Hanson at the Eastman School of Music in 1952. 

On December 8th amidst the pomp and circumstance of commencement, I will enjoy watching CVPA graduates cross the stage at the Greensboro Coliseum in their academic regalia. The origins of academic regalia date to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries when universities were first formed. The ordinary dress of a scholar, whether a student or professor, was the dress of a cleric. Long robes were worn and were a necessity in unheated libraries. Hoods were used to cover shaved heads. 

UNCG students are known for festooning their mortarboards with bling, daisies, and messages to family and loved ones. Mortarboards were developed in the fifteenth century from a hat known as the biretta, which was worn by Catholic clerics and professors. The distinctive square shape of the mortarboard is believed to signify a book in recognition of scholarly achievements. The term mortarboard, however, comes from the flat board used by bricklayers to lay mortar—apropos given UNCG’s many brick buildings. 

The design of the robe will tell you the degree that a particular Spartan has earned. The gown for a bachelor’s degree has pointed sleeves, while a master’s gown has an oblong sleeve with a square-cut piece at the base. The robe for a doctoral degree has bell-shaped sleeves often with three bars of velvet. Sometime in the nineteenth century, the assignment of disciplinary colors on the hood was standardized. Here in CVPA, the colors include white for the Arts, Letters, and Humanities; brown for the Fine Arts; and pink for Music. 

To each December graduate sporting academic regalia and a mortarboard, I say Bravo, Well done, and Go make your mark! 

Sincerely,

bruce d. mcclung, Dean

College of Visual and Performing Arts

“The School of Dance at UNCG felt like the best of both worlds—conservatory training in a large, liberal arts setting, and that’s what I wanted as my college experience. It felt like new beginnings and home all in one. I’ve always yearned for a space that was safe, open to collaboration, and diverse. UNCG and the School of Dance embodied these qualities.”

Read full commencement profile here.

“UNCG gave me the freedom to take my time and to explore my interests. I think without that, I wouldn’t be completely satisfied in my field. CVPA encouraged me to diversify my experience in music, and Greensboro is an amazing place for musicians and artists alike.”

Read full commencement profile here.

“This is a community of kind people coming together to share their interests and to learn from one another. The University also has programs that focus on community service and offers volunteer opportunities at events.”

Read full commencement profile here.

“I am leaving the School of Music with a flexible mentality to be able to adapt to all types of situations that I might encounter in the future. I have also learned that to be able to teach, we have to develop the best of ourselves. Then we can give to our students.”

Read full commencement profile here.

Destiny King (’23 BM Music Education) is an administrative fellow at Arena Stage in Washington, DC. 

Lin Lao (’23 DMA Piano Performance) had two proposals, “Musical Quotation in John Corigliano’s Piano Works” and “The Growing Influence of the Fortepiano in Spain,” selected for the 2024 Music Teachers National Association Collegiate Symposium, which will take place in January at the University of Michigan. 

Kyrese Washington (’22 BM Flute Performance) won first prize in the Raleigh Area Flute Association Young Artist Competition. 

Anthony Cataldo (’19 BFA Theatre) has been starring as The Grinch on the national tour of Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical, which was recently at the Steven Tanger Center for the Performing Arts in Greensboro. 

Christopher LaVignette (’14 BM Music Education) received the Ed Rooker Encore Award from the North Carolina Chapter of the American School Band Directors Association. The award is presented to outstanding band directors with fewer than seven years of experience in the profession. LaVignette currently teaches band at Clyde A. Erwin Middle School in Asheville. 

Michelle J. Lanteri (’13 BA Art History and Museum Studies, ’02 Media Studies) has taken a position with The Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque as head curator of its museum and rotating galleries. She previously served as curator of collections at the Albuquerque Museum and curator of collections and exhibitions at the Millicent Rogers Museum. Lanteri earned a doctoral degree from the University of Oklahoma and her master’s degree from New Mexico State University. 

Barbara Sloan (’74 MA Theatre) has published Theatre Is My Life: Thoughts on Play Quotes: A Book of Meditations for Each Day of the Year (Amazon Pro Hub 2022). A couple of her musings concern shows at UNCG and at the Parkway Playhouse. 

Professor Emerita Gay E. Cheney passed away last Wednesday, November 29, 2023. Dr. Cheney was a UNC Greensboro dance faculty member for twenty years from 1976 to 1996. She also served as Head of the Dance Department, now the School of Dance, from 1978 to 1982. While at UNC Greensboro, Dr. Cheney taught improvisation, the creative process, choreography, philosophy of dance, aesthetics and criticism of dance, twentieth-century dance, and courses on “Art as Human Experience,” “Body Wisdom and Art,” and “Ceremony for the Earth.” Read more here.