It’s a Dean’s Life Vol. 12

It’s a Dean’s Life 

October 2016 

Dean Lisa VollendorfFall is an exciting time of year at SJSU. In addition to Homecoming, Family Weekend, and other exciting student-centered activities, we are now in full events season in the College of Humanities and the Arts.  

We opened the Hammer Theatre with an amazing lineup of music, dance, and theater to kick off our first full season in this beautiful performing arts facility. National Medal of Arts awardee and SJSU alum Luis Valdez kicked off the thirtieth anniversary of our Center for Literary Arts, sharing inspirational stories and lessons learned throughout a lifetime as a Latino and an artist. Sean Dorsey Dance performed AIDS: The Missing Generation during opening week, bringing beauty, passion, and inspiration to an homage to lives lost during the AIDS epidemic. 

Our School of Music and Dance put on a beautiful multidisciplinary performance in the Hammer during the opening month. Kaleidoscope! featured the very best of music and dance, including a boisterous parade with the marching band to kick it all off. We intend to make this an annual event, so stay tuned for more exciting programming, including Elijah, to be performed on May 13, 2017 at the Hammer.  

In the coming weeks the Hammer will be incredibly active! Don’t miss our very own Television, Radio, Film, and Theatre Department’s performance of Corridos: The Remix. This show was written by Luis and Kinan Valdez, and we are thrilled to have Kinan directing our students at the Hammer this fall!  After Corridos we will have two very different Nutcrackers for everyone’s enjoyment. In November, Tandy Beal is presenting Nutz! Re-Mixed!, a Nutcracker for the 21st century. Imagine hip hop, ballet, and acrobatics all rolled into one exciting show! In December, San José’s New Ballet School is presenting San José Nutcracker and even My Very First Nutcracker for the wee ones in our families as well. All Hammer tickets are available here.  

As we continue to strengthen our community relations and educational opportunities through the Hammer Theatre Center opportunity, we also are proud to be increasing our support for writing and writing instruction at SJSU. As of this fall, the College of Humanities and the Arts proudly runs the university’s Writing Center. We also are the proud co-creators of The Hub, a collaboration space for writing and innovation on the fourth floor of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Library. This space was designed by graphic design students in our college and represents the very best we have to offer: creative approaches to teaching and learning that have the potential to impact the entire campus community! 

Sadly, we have lost some important members of the College’s community over the past few weeks. Beloved music professor Gus Lease passed away on September 4, 2016 at the joyfully young age of 93. We celebrated his life at an uplifting service and also are celebrating his legacy through the Lois and Gus Lease Pre-Endowment. Former Art Department Chair Kathleen Cohen also died this fall. A passionate educator and arts advocate, Dr. Cohen left the legacy of an incredibly rich image database that includes thousands of images of art from around the world. Her family has encouraged that donations be directed to the Cohen Image Endowment at SJSU. Those wishing to make contributions in the names of these incredible colleagues and friends could do so via the SJSU Tower Foundation.  

As we move into the time of giving thanks and appreciating all that is good in the world, I want to wish everyone a peaceful fall season. Every day I come to work knowing that there is much work to do to educate our students and that our work is made that much easier knowing that we have an entire community of friends and supporters who care about the College of Humanities and the Arts. I am thankful to each and every one of you for being part of the larger SJSU community! 

Warmly,  

 Lisa Vollendorf Signature

Lisa Vollendorf