2022 Spring Academic Newsletter
A MESSAGE FROM THE
DEAN The past two years have brought unprecedented challenges to every higher education institution. At the Liberty University School of Communication & the Arts (SCA), we train our students to imitate the Creator, and as believers who love Him and are called according to His purpose, we know that all things work together for good. With this calling, identity, and assurance, we meet challenges by situating them as good opportunities to solve problems creatively. When production shut down for most film work around the country, SCA produced 2 features and 60 thesis films. When digital media departments went into hiatus, SCA continued all of our production classes, upgraded our equipment, and helped the Department of Theatre Arts launch an annual audio theatre convention. When theaters went dark around the country, SCA produced an entire season for our patrons. When museums had to shut down, SCA kept our gallery open, even opening our doors to host a Congressional Art Competition when the planned location could not work. When our advertising team had to decide whether or not to continue in a national competition that championed a product antithetical to our Christian identity, SCA switched competitions and won national runner-up our first time competing. Through all of these events, we followed approved safety protocols to keep our students, personnel, and patrons safe, so when other schools opened up for 2021-22, they asked for SCA’s plans. God truly does work all things together for good and we give our Creator all of the praise with our accomplishments.
Scott Hayes, Ph.D. Dean
T A B L E of C O N T E N T S 4-5
Department of Studio & Digital Arts (SADA)
6-7
Department of Cinematic Arts — Zaki Gordon Center (CINE)
8-11
Department of Theatre Arts (THEA)
12-13
Department of Strategic & Personal Communication (SAPC)
14-15
Department of Digital Media & Journalism (DMAJ)
DEPARTMENT OF STUDIO & DIGITAL ARTS (SADA) CONGRESSIONAL A RT C O M P E T I T I O N A WA R D S C E R E M O N Y
The Department of Studio & Digital Arts (SADA) had the pleasure to host the 2021 Congressional Art Competition Awards Ceremony in the Green Hall collaborative space in early May. High school students from the 5th district of Virginia submitted their work into the annual competition. Some of the SADA professors had the opportunity to judge the work and present the awards alongside Congressman Bob Good. The winning work will hang in the Capitol for the next year.
SADA received the Illuminate Grant for “Augmenting Studio & Digital Arts Curriculum through Virtual Experiences,” which proposes to upgrade the existing 3D Innovation lab by installing a full virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) setup with room tracking. Students will be able to incorporate VR and AR into their projects, which gives them the hands-on experience and skills they need to work in the most innovative industries.
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Student Awards and Accomplishments: • Graduate students won gold and Best of Show in the 2021 district level of the American Advertising Awards for their campaign, “The One Stop Spot.” • Graduate students won 2nd place in the Creative and Artistic category for their oral presentation on environmental graphic design during Research Week 2021. Contributors include Madison Fogarty, Olivia Smith, Sydney Rabe, Morgan Poole, Natalie Dodd, and Kennedy Luke (pictured right). • Undergraduate and graduate students won 3 gold medals, 3 silver medals, and a Judge’s Choice award in the 2021 Western Virginia Advertising Awards Competition.
Faculty Awards and Accomplishments: Professors Stacy Cannon, Audra Rygh, and Brianna O’Neal were accepted to the Looking Good Juried Exhibition at Florida Atlantic University. Their work, “Broads of Burden,” was featured at the international exhibition and illuminates the plight of the modern working woman, inviting user participation by asking viewers to add “just one more” task to our subject’s already formidable list of responsibilities.
SADA student Julianna Thacker is a junior majoring in graphic design and minoring in photography who was chosen for a special opportunity for the community: “In December of 2020, I was offered a chance to redesign Amherst County’s Public Works logo. I took the offer, and after three weeks of revisions, Adobe Illustrator errors, and two meetings with the county officials, the logo was finished. The brand-new Amherst County Public Works logo contains the recycle symbol, county colors, and the signature Amherst ‘A.’ The recycle symbol suggests the many things that Public Works does for Amherst, which is primarily recycling the old (waste, buildings, landscapes) and renewing them once again. The different colors represent the different forms of business within Public Works and Amherst. I believe the logo fully encapsulates the laws of design and reinitiates the wonders of Amherst, Virginia.”
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DEPARTMENT OF CINEMATIC ARTS — ZAKI GORDON CENTER (CINE) “ T H E WA R E H O U S E ” Forty-five junior students from the Cinematic Arts department crewed alongside industry professionals made up of alumni and professors to make the feature film "The Warehouse." In this movie, which is set to be released in Fall 2022, the main character takes a warehouse job, only to discover that he is trapped in a time-vortex in which employees pay for their gravest blunder in never-ending shifts. Students gained skills that will ensure employment upon graduating. Codey Wilson
THE MULLIGAN MOVIE During the 2021 spring semester, the Cinematic Arts junior cohort and professors took a 6-week trip to Georgia to work on set and create the feature film “The Mulligan Movie,” which will be released in theaters and on streaming platforms. 6
Sarah Gabert
Faculty Awards and Accomplishments Liberty University Cinematic Arts Professor Won Novalis said he has been drawn to the art of filmmaking and storytelling since childhood. The art form gives him the unique ability to express ideas and emotions that sometimes cannot be conveyed through words alone. “I was interested in the way a story can affect people, and that includes commercials that communicate ideas and emotions through the medium,” he said. “Emotions are things that are hard to put in words sometimes, and I think what draws people into films is how it cannot only give information but also bring people emotional knowledge and understanding.” These emotions are evident in Novalis’ award-winning commercials for Carilion Clinic’s “Curious Campaign,” which showcase the wonder and discovery of childhood and tell how that same
curiosity drives the regional healthcare organization as it serves patients today. The commercials, created by Cry, a production company co-owned by Novalis, became the year’s flagship commercial campaign for Carilion Clinic in the Roanoke, Va., area and were aired in regional Super Bowl ad spots. The commercials earned seven awards in the 2020 Western Virginia American Advertising Awards, including Best in Show and Best in Broadcast, as well as top TV Campaign, TV Spot, cinematography, and music. Novalis was also recognized for his editing work. Liberty students and alumni joined Novalis on the project, which lasted several months from start to finish, including the writing, a multi-day shooting schedule, and postproduction.
Student Awards and Accomplishments •
Libby Novoselac: “Best First Time Director” from the 2021 New York Movie Awards
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Michael Hartman: Platinum 2021 REMI Award winner for “If Only Yesterday”
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Tori Swart: 2020 Silver Telly winner for “A Year Ago Yesterday”
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Michael Hartman: 2020 Silver Telly winner for “If Only Yesterday”
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Colin Ausbury: 2020 Silver Telly winner for “Til Death Do Us Part”
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Anthony Brausch: 2020 Bronze Telly
winner for “When Tides Recede”
During Summer 2021, high school and middle school students got a taste of plotting, production, directing, acting, camera, lighting, and sound during Film Uncut, Liberty’s cinematic arts camp.
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DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE ARTS (THEA)
Bloodroot: The Ballad of Clinch Mountain
Bedford Boys
THE WRITING PROJECT The Department of Theatre Arts' Writing Project is a program in which students create original plays based on Virginia history. The Women’s Project, a playwriting opportunity for 25 Liberty University Theatre Arts students, started as a research practicum during the Fall 2017 semester in response to student observations regarding the lack of gender parity in performance opportunities. Faculty decided to make the project created by The Women's Project a production for the 2018-19 season. The final rehearsal draft was titled BLOODROOT: THE BALLAD OF CLINCH MOUNTAIN. The rehearsal period commenced with 20 of the 25 playwrights taking on new roles in leadership and performance. BLOODROOT: THE BALLAD OF CLINCH MOUNTAIN was recognized by Liberty's Center for Research & Scholarship (CRS) for the high level of creative student research and the quality of its outcome, despite not being the more traditional form of faculty/student collaboration. CRS decided to underwrite all production costs. The production continued to regionals in the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival in South Carolina and then was granted the national award from the Kennedy Center for excellence in student production and dramaturgy. Since that time, the department has continued with 3 more collaborations — BEDFORD BOYS (2019), DECIPHER: AN UNPENNED STORY OF THE CIVIL WAR (2021), and THE DARKEST EVENING (2022) — (all supported and funded by CRS).
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Audio Theatre Convention Sonic-Con Returned Last Fall With Special “Animaniacs in Concert” B Y R YA N K L I N K E R
The creative minds and voices behind the Warner Brothers wacky cartoon “Animaniacs” and Focus on the Family’s “Adventures in Odyssey” joined the second annual SonicCon national audio theatre convention Oct. 22-24 on the Liberty University campus. An “Animaniacs in Concert” event was held on Oct. 23 and featured performers Rob Paulsen (voice of Yakko and Pinky), Maurice LaMarche (Brain), and Emmy-winning composer Randy Rogel, who was accompanied in singalongs by the Liberty Symphony Orchestra in the Center for Music and the Worship Arts, Concert Hall. “Adventures in Odyssey” co-creator Phil Lollar and cast members Katie Leigh (Connie Kendall) and Will Ryan (Eugene Meltsner) returned from last year’s inaugural convention to once again lead masterclasses. The “Animaniacs” performers and cartoon
creator Butch Hartman, best known for his Nickelodeon shows “The Fairly OddParents” and “Danny Phantom,” led masterclasses. Other industry professionals in voice acting, writing, and sound design appeared with a new works festival, listening lounges, panel discussions, live audio performances, and fun voice competitions. “Sonic-Con 2021 highlighted some wonderful talent within the voice acting industry, giving fans and aspiring professionals from across the country an opportunity to learn and be entertained,” said Sonic-Con Executive Director and Theatre Arts Professor Chris Nelson. “This is truly a one-of-a-kind audio theatre convention that Liberty’s School of Communication & the Arts was honored to host.”
For more information, visit Sonic-Con.org.
THE UNCU T SERIES the Uncut series for students to explore more artistic disciplines like dance, filmmaking, and art, each led by Liberty professors and students from those corresponding areas under SCA. Throughout the high school camps, Liberty professors taught classes in their discipline, followed by breakout sessions led by current Liberty students serving as counselors.
SCA expanded its offerings for 136 students of different ages to engage with the arts throughout the month of June. In addition to its annual Liberty University Theatre Camp (LUTC) for elementary school campers, SCA launched the Uncut Series of camps for high school and middle school students. Liberty’s Department of Theatre Arts has offered a summer camp for roughly 12 years, but Summer Arts Coordinator and Theatre Professor Chris Nelson developed
In these camps, students explored the diverse aspects of live performance and filmmaking. Each camp concluded with a chance for the campers to showcase what they had learned. The theatre sections of the Uncut camps performed cabaret-style shows with songs originally in stage musicals and movies; the film camp held red-carpet premieres for their short films; and the art camp held a gallery showcase. The students in LUTC applied the skills they learned by performing the children’s theatre show “How I Became a Pirate Younger@Part” for the public.
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‘L I B E RT Y S H A P E D M E A S A P E R S O N : ’ Miss Virginia 2021 Tatum Sheppard shares a passion for service cultivated at LU BY JACOB COUCH Serving others has never been a chore for Liberty University graduate Tatum Sheppard (’20), the newly crowned Miss Virginia. It’s a passion that she nurtured at LU through various activities on and off campus. “My time at Liberty shaped me as a person, as a Christian, and as a godly woman,” she said. “It wasn’t just about getting my degree, although the training that I got was great. Getting my education with a biblical worldview was critical in maturing me and teaching me to find my identity in Christ and not in the things that I do.” As part of the responsibilities of her reign leading up to the Miss America 2022 competition in December, Sheppard will go on an “ABC School Tour,” traveling to 70 different schools in the fall promoting her social impact initiative, “Mentoring Matters,” through the Big Brothers Big Sisters organization. During the tour, she will also talk to students about drug and alcohol abuse prevention. Sheppard was involved in the organization as a Big Sister in high school and college; she completed a portion of Liberty’s required Christian Community Service (CSER) hours with the program as well as with Thomas Road Baptist Church. She said she understands the impact a mentor can have and is grateful that she attended a university with a longstanding tradition of service.
In addition to her training at Liberty, Sheppard said she was taught by the best mentor she could have: her mother Kellye, who was crowned Miss America in 1987. “I watched my mom my whole life, and that made an impression on me,” she said. “My mom is the best role model I could ever ask for. She is so godly, and she is so servant-hearted. She was also crucial in teaching me where my identity should be.” Sheppard said through her mother’s professional theatre experiences as well as her father’s coaching profession, she was exposed early in life to a variety of different interests that she is still grateful for today. “I did theatre, played basketball and volleyball. I was doing everything,” she said. “It made my siblings and me very wellrounded, but we always knew not to tie our identity to any of the things we were doing but to who we are in Christ.” Sheppard said that once her pageant time is over, she hopes she is remembered for her character and passion in showing the love of Christ to those she encountered along the way.
“I was so grateful to graduate from a college that taught me not only what I needed to know to succeed in my career but also how I was going to succeed as a person and as a Christian,” she said.
“Every person I come in contact with, I want them to be seen and become known,” she said. “I want to see people the way that God sees us, and I want to leave that impression on them.”
Sheppard earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre from Liberty and also worked as a tour guide at the Hancock Welcome Center — both areas that proved to be training grounds for her success in the Miss Virginia pageant.
Sheppard’s heart for serving Christ was seen day in and day out while at Liberty by Linda Cooper, chair of the Theatre Arts Department.
“My theatre degree was put to good use this week,” she said, laughing. “We had a talent portion in the competition which is 35 percent of our score. I performed a Broadway vocal, so I was able to use all my training (from college).” Sheppard said that working as a tour guide at the welcome center has helped her to relate to all different ages.
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“When you are a tour guide, you get a wide range of people you are talking to,” she said. “It could be anyone from a younger sibling to a grandfather who brought their granddaughter, and those are the types of people you have to be able to talk to as Miss Virginia.”
“I am so proud of this accomplishment of Tatum’s, but I am not surprised,” Cooper said. “She is a talented, intelligent, confident young woman who speaks boldly about her faith and runs through every door God has opened for her. We expect a wonderful future for her and are glad we have been a small part of her journey.”
Student Awards and Accomplishments • Kaleb Lindevaldsen received a Broadcast Education Association award for excellence in sound editing of “The Encounter.” • The Department of Theatre Arts has competed in the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (ACTF) for over ten years. Students who have participated in this festival have been nominated for the Irene Ryan Award, a national acting award for excellence in the craft and art of acting and design. Recent nominees include: Gretchen Eckert as Elinor Dashwood, Ashley Banker as Lucy Steele/Gossip, and Sarah Beattie for Stage Management — all in the show “Sense and Sensibility.” Other ACTF award nominees include: • 2020 Writing Project Team for excellence in Dramaturgy for “Decipher”
• Aaron Hall – ACTF recognition for excellence in Projections Design for “Decipher”
• Maia Anderson – Irene Ryan Award for her role as Mary Bowser in “Decipher”
• Mattea Harrison – ACTF recognition for excellence in Costume Design for “Decipher”
• Seth Somers – Irene Ryan Award for his role as Timothy Webster in “Decipher”
• Melanie Ernst – ACTF recognition for excellence in Assistant Directing for “Decipher”
• Jordan Prather – Irene Ryan Award for her role as Elizabeth Van Lew in “Decipher”
• Alyssa Hall – ACTF recognition for Hair & Makeup Design for “Decipher”
• Claire Flores – ACTF recognition in excellence in Stage Management for “Decipher”
Faculty Awards and Accomplishments In 2019, the Department of Theatre Arts received national awards for the Distinguished Production of a New Work, Distinguished Achievement of Dramaturgy, Distinguished Exploration of a Historical Legacy, and National Commendation of Student Writers and Director, Scott Hayes, for “Bloodroot: The Ballad of Clinch Mountain.” Professor Linda Cooper was also given the national award for Dramaturgy for the Writing Project.
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DEPARTMENT OF STRATEGIC & PERSONAL COMMUNICATION (SAPC)
On April 23, 2021, the Department of Strategic & Personal Communication (SAPC) hosted former Department of Justice spokeswoman Kerri Kupec. She spoke to students about crisis communication, crafting messages, and social media. In preparation for her visit, Kupec had dinner with Dean Hayes, Dean Hurt, Dr. Mallory, four students from The Champion, and four SAPC students.
MICROPHONE-ALT
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The Liberty University community fondly remembers the late Jane Marczewski (Class of ’13), who went by her stage name “Nightbirde." She received a standing ovation and was awarded the Golden Buzzer, which automatically sent her to the live shows, after singing her original song “It’s OK” on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent.”
Student Awards and Accomplishments • Advertising Team members Victoria Cline, Casandra Sappington, Katherine Lewis, and Joseph White were selected as semifinalists for their campaign "Bose Behind the Breakthrough" in the Effie Collegiate Competition. The team (pictured left) presented their campaign to Bose. • Strategic Communications student Abigail Hayes was crowned Miss Oregon in 2019.
• SAPC student Aariana Maynard interned at NASA in their Capacity Building Program located at the Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va. “Working with NASA’s Capacity Building Program was a fantastic opportunity,” Maynard said. “The work in editing and creating graphics, press releases, infographics, and videos was challenging but also very intriguing, and I enjoyed it. I had the opportunity to collaborate and network with team members from all over the United States. It was amazing how we were able to come together and make a final product to present in front of our mentors and supervisors.”
Faculty Awards and Accomplishments • Liberty's Chapter (pictured left) of the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) won the National PRSSA Star Chapter Award in September 2021. This is a prestigious award and has become the gold standard for PRSSA Chapters. • Dr. Marie Mallory was named "Master Teacher" by Course Hero and the Carnegie Foundation in 2020. Dr. Mallory was also a Course Hero Educational Summit 2020 Presenter; her presentation was titled "Fighting Feedback Fear."
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DEPARTMENT OF DIGITAL MEDIA & JOURNALISM (DMAJ)
NEW EQUIPMENT The Media Lab upgraded the h4N audio recorders to Zoom P4 recorders, which allow for 4 channels and are essentially a portable podcasting system. Throughout the school year, The Media Lab offers workshops for video, audio, and lighting so DMAJ students have proper training before using the equipment.
User-graduate Alumni Highlight KAITLYN MINTLE DMAJ Class of 2015 and SAPC Class of 2017 Coordinating Producer for Trinity Broadcasting Network's “Huckabee”
As a coordinating producer, Kaitlin uses the skills she learned in her graduate and undergraduate degrees with SCA to work directly with booking agents, travel agents, producers, publicists, managers, artists, property managers, security, and more, from initial booking through the entirety of the show for "Huckabee." She also hosts all talent and teams backstage — providing a positive hospitality experience, making sure needs are met, and running backstage operations during live shows. In addition, she also gathers materials, graphics, video, and all promotional support for talent.
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Student Awards and Accomplishments Moriah Sprinkel won a Broadcast Education Association (BEA) award for her art project “Clouds.”
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A lot of it was influence from home and the beauty of God’s creation. People sometimes take advantage when we look around at the world and don’t give credit to the Lord. The beauty of our Earth is from God, and I wanted to take time to recognize that through my art.”
Elizabeth McKeever, Kaleb Lindevaldsen, Cameron Harris, and Moriah Sprinkel received first place for their project in the annual National Religious Broadcasters Convention for 2021.
Faculty Awards and Accomplishments Digital Media Professor Dr. Carey Martin won the Award of Excellence in a national competition hosted by the BEA for his original script inspired by “The Twilight Zone.”
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