Text Only Version

PALM Students Host Panel Discussion with Artists and Arts Managers

Performing Arts Leadership & Management graduate students hosted four practicing artists/arts managers in a special panel discussion exploring the intersection between the gig economy and artist wellness at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, May 1, in Armstrong Concert Hall. Panel participants include Stephanie Dorycott (artistic director, Motion X Dance), Ceylon Mitchell II (arts administrator, educator, Washington, D.C.), Josh Huff (general manager, Bright Box Theater), and Dorea Schmidt (private acting coach, Dorea Schmidt Studio). All Shenandoah University students, faculty and staff are invited to attend; however, seating preference will be given to Shenandoah Conservatory students with academic requirements.

Stephanie DorrycottStephanie Dorrycott ’09 is the artistic director of Motion X Dance DC, a fast-growing contemporary dance company that launched in 2013. She was integrated in dance from an early age, training extensively in classical ballet, modern and jazz. Dorrycott received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from Shenandoah University and was honored with the Excellence in Choreography Award upon graduation. She performed professionally for five years before she realized her truest passion was in choreography. Her choreography has been performed by various dance groups including Metropolitan Youth Ballet, Dancin’ Unlimited Jazz Company, The Ballet Arts Ensemble of Fairfax, Step Afrika and for the Youth American Grand Prix competitions. Choreographic accolades include the Monticello Award through Regional Dance America and choreographic commissions from Shenandoah University and Joy of Motion Dance Center. Motion X Dance DC has performed along the East Coast in many venues including the Atlas Performing Arts Center, The Millennium Stage at the John F. Kennedy Center, The Grace Street Theater in Richmond, Virginia, and The Charlotte Ballet Theater in Charlotte, North Carolina. Most recently the company performed her work, “Turning Point,” at the 36th Annual Choreographers’ Showcase at the University of Maryland. In addition to Motion X, Dorrycott is a passionate dance educator. She currently serves as the associate director of the Greater Washington Dance Center and is on faculty at the Metropolitan School of the Arts.

Josh HuffJosh Huff is a bassist, venue manager, father, and DIY enthusiast who currently lives in Winchester, Virginia, with his partner and child. Huff has served as the venue manager at Bright Box since its opening in May 2013. In addition to his work at Bright Box, he is the bassist for two bands, the education manager for NASF, a nonprofit out of D.C., and vice president of Valley Makers, a Winchester-based nonprofit makerspace.

Ceylon Narvelle MitchellIICeylon Narvelle Mitchell II is a professional flutist, arts entrepreneur, educator and arts advocate in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. Originally from Anchorage, Alaska, and a graduate of East Anchorage High School, he earned a Master of Music Education degree from Boston University and a Master of Music Performance degree from the University of Maryland, in addition to a Graduate Certificate in Multimedia Journalism. Mitchell will continue his education in the Doctor of Musical Arts flute program at the University of Maryland in fall 2019. Recent achievements include participating in the National Music Festival Symphony Orchestra, and receiving the Young Alaskan Artist Award, a 2018 Prince George’s County Forty UNDER 40 Award in Arts & Humanities, and a 2019 Prince George’s Arts and Humanities Council Artist Fellowship Grant. Mitchell’s mission is keeping classical music alive, authentic and accessible.

An active freelance artist, Mitchell is the co-founder, flutist and media manager of Potomac Winds, a chamber music collective. Described by the University of Maryland as “magnificent, deeply moving, and a model of alumni pride,” the ensemble is committed to promoting woodwind chamber music as a virtuosic medium through engaging performances of the highest level of artistic expression. As a music educator, Mitchell maintains a private studio in Maryland and serves as the Potomac Valley Youth Orchestra flute choir conductor. He previously served as a teaching artist with the Boston Flute Academy and as the director of the Boston University Flute Ensemble.

Mitchell supports performing artists and arts organizations with digital media production and marketing consulting as the owner and founder of M3 Music Media Marketing, LLC, a multimedia organization. Tailored services include photography, videography and social media marketing. Recent clients include The Clarice, the Arts & Humanities Council of Montgomery County, the Boulanger Initiative, Capitol Hill Jazz Foundation, the Anchorage Festival of Music, and numerous individual artists. Mitchell seeks to equip and empower his fellow performing artists for artistic and marketing success in a 21st-century landscape. Mitchell is also an active arts advocate in the D.C. area, serving as a board member of the Arts Administrators of Color Network and an Emerging Arts Advocates (EAA) member of Maryland Citizens for the Arts.

Mentors, past and present, include Dr. Saïs Kamalidiin, Ms. Janese Sampson, professor Leah Arsenault, Dr. William Montgomery, professor Linda Toote, Dr. Carmen Lemoine, and Sharon Nowak of Anchorage, Alaska, his first flute teacher. Additionally, Mitchell has performed in masterclasses for professional flutists such as Aaron Goldman, Marina Piccinini, Sir James Galway, Paul Edmund-Davies, Trevor Wye and Marianne Gedigian. He remains grateful to the entire Anchorage music community for preparing him for a promising career in the arts with encouragement and inspiration. Mitchell currently resides in Bladensburg, Maryland, with his wife, Denys Symonette Mitchell.

Dorea SchmidtDorea Schmidt is a Helen Hayes award-winning actor based in Washington, D.C. Credits in D.C. include the world premiere of “Sovereignty,” as well as “Oliver!” and “Fiddler on the Roof” at Arena Stage; “The School for Lies” at Shakespeare Theatre Company; “Caroline, or Change” at Round House Theatre; the world premiere of “Collective Rage” (Helen Hayes Award Winner for Outstanding Supporting Actress) at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company; “Carousel” (Helen Hayes Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress) and “Mary Poppins” at Olney Theatre Center; “Black Comedy,” “The Fantasticks,” and “The Last 5 Years” at No Rules Theatre Company; and “The Love of the Nightingale” at Constellation Theatre Company. Regional credits include “Crimes of the Heart” and “The Beaux’ Stratagem” at Everyman Theatre; “My Fair Lady” at The Cape Playhouse and “The Sound of Music” at the Fulton Theatre/Maltz Jupiter Theatre. Schmidt trained at the William Esper Studio and the National Theatre Institute. She is a company member of Only Make Believe, a nonprofit organization that brings interactive theatre to children in hospitals and other care facilities. She is also on the steering committee for Actors Arena, a forum based at Arena Stage that provides workshops and discussions for professional actors in the D.C. area to hone and develop skills, facilitate substantive artistic exploration and nourish the artistic spirit. Visit www.doreaschmidt.com to learn more.

Assistant Professor of Modern Dance Matt Pardo, M.F.A., participated in a panel at the recently opened Philip Glass Institute at the New School in New York City alongside Caitlin Scranton, who co-directs The Blanket with Pardo, and the seminal choreographer Lucinda Childs. The panel was led by Lisa Bielawa, an Emmy Award-winning composer, who also happens to be the lead singer for the Philip Glass Ensemble. The panel explored how artists can compose their own creative lives. Freshman acting major Diego Murillo traveled to the event in New York City to meet Childs and experience the discussion for himself. Visit events.newschool.edu/event/philip_glass_institute_composing_a_creative_life_lecture_series to learn more about the event.

Shenandoah University’s Harry F. Byrd, Jr. School of Business will hold a panel discussion on Morality and Capitalism at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 5, in Halpin-Harrison Hall, Stimpson Auditorium (1460 University Drive, Winchester, VA 22601).

A question and answer session will follow. The event is free and open to the public, and is part of the school of business’s ongoing Distinguished Lecture Series. Light refreshments will be provided during a pre-event reception at 5:30 p.m.

“We find ourselves in a time where people are not just concerned with where their money is invested, but also where it is spent,” said Dean of the Harry F. Byrd, Jr. School of Business Miles Davis, Ph.D. “The idea that financial matters have a moral component is a challenge to the traditional idea that products and services in a capitalist society are amoral and that profitability is the overarching goal of an organization. We are excited to have with us a panel who can address the issues of morality and capitalism from a scholarly and practitioner perspective.”

Dr. Davis is set to facilitate the panel, which includes Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Sterling Management Group, Inc. M. Yaqub Mirza, Ph.D.; Harry F. Byrd, Jr. School of Business Eldon R. Lindsey Chair of Free Enterprise and Professor of Economics and Finance Clifford Thies, Ph.D.; and Christian financial counselor and author Gary Moore.

As founder, president and chief executive officer of Sterling Management Group, Inc., Dr. Mirza negotiates mergers, acquisitions, and sales of various-sized companies located in different parts of the world. Sterling and its affiliates operate in the United States, Canada, Chile, Egypt, Malaysia, Turkey, and Zimbabwe. In addition, Mirza has more than thirty years of experience in stock investments and portfolio management.

He is the founding trustee and chairman of the board of trustees of Amana Mutual Funds, which is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission. He also serves on the boards of numerous other organizations, including several for-profit and not-for-profit, as well as academic institutions.

Mirza is a member of the Shenandoah University board of trustees, and in that capacity, serves on both the finance committee and the investment and endowment committee. He also serves on the board of advisors for the Harry F. Byrd, Jr. School of Business. Mirza is a George Mason University Foundation trustee and a member of the board of advisors for George Mason University’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences in Fairfax, Virginia.

He holds a M.Sc. from the University of Karachi (1969), as well as a Ph.D. in physics (1974) and an M.A. in teaching science (1975) from the University of Texas at Dallas.

Dr. Thies is the author, co-author, contributor or editor of 105 books, encyclopedia articles and articles in scholarly journals; most recently, “The Chicago Record Poll and the Election of 1896,” which is forthcoming in Presidential Studies Quarterly. He is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Private Enterprise and was a Bradley Resident Scholar at the Heritage Foundation.

Thies is past president of the faculty senates of Shenandoah University and the University of Baltimore, and previously served on the faculties of the University of Baltimore and the University of Montana. He served in the U.S. Army and the Army Reserve. Thies was awarded a Ph.D. in economics from Boston College in 1982.

Mr. Moore recently retired after more than four decades on Wall Street. He is the author of five books, including “Faithful Finances 101” and “Spiritual Investments.” His books discuss the integration of faith and finance, predominantly focusing on socially responsible business and investing. Moore is the founder of The Financial Seminary, a nonprofit ministry, to build bridges between the financial and moral communities. He also founded his own investment firm, Gary Moore & Company, as “counsel to ethical and spiritual investors.”

Moore has served as a trustee of Robert Schuller’s Crystal Cathedral, chairing the church’s endowment committee; as a trustee on the investment committee of Messiah College; as a board member of the John Templeton Foundation; as a board advisor to Bill Bennett and Jack Kemp in Empower America; as a lay leader of both Lutheran and the Episcopal churches; as a financial commentator for UPI Radio and Skylight Radio Network; and as a board member for Opportunity International, a micro-enterprise organization making $200 loans to the entrepreneurial poor in the Third World. Moore holds a degree in political science from the University of Kentucky.

For more information about this event, contact Harry F. Byrd, Jr. School of Business Administrative Assistant Kerri Mariano at 540/665-4572 or kmariano@su.edu.

Current issues and court cases involving the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) will be discussed during a symposium from noon to 1:45 p.m. on Oct. 15, in Halpin-Harrison Hall, Stimpson Auditorium on the campus of Shenandoah University. It is free and open to the public.

Hosted by the Harry F. Byrd, Jr. School of Business sport management program, in conjunction with the newly formed Sport Business Club, the symposium will feature important court cases such as O’Bannon v. NCAA, Northwestern University’s case presented to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the EA Sports licensing case.

Featured distinguished guest speakers include:

• Paul Hewitt, George Mason University head men’s basketball coach
• Richard Southall, Ed.D., assistant professor and director of the College Sport Research Institute at the University of South Carolina
• Brian Wigley, Ed.D., associate professor of sport management at Shenandoah University
• Doug Zipp, director of Intercollegiate Athletics at Shenandoah University
• Craig Esherick, J.D., associate professor and associate director for the Center for Sport Management at George Mason University

The symposium will be moderated by Harry F. Byrd, Jr. School of Business Dean Miles Davis, Ph.D.

This symposium will illuminate key issues surrounding these cases as they relate to the NCAA, athletic programs and academic institutions. This forum of distinguished scholars and sport administrators will probe the issues in more depth while interacting with the general public. The symposium panelists are experienced in their respective areas and will provide valuable insight, awareness and personal perspectives on the issues.

If you would like more information about the symposium, please contact Assistant Professor of Sport Management Fritz Polite, Ph.D., at 540/665-4572 or fpolite@su.edu; or Assistant Professor of Sport Management Joey Gawrysiak, Ph.D., at jgawrysi@su.edu.