A&S Newsletter Winter 2023 | GCSU

RAISING THE BAR...

WHE RE PE DAGOGY AN D MU S IC M E E T

DEAN’S WELCOME DR. ERIC TENBUS, DEAN COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

O

n April 26, 2023, I experienced a lifechanging event. After attending the GEM leadership dinner on campus, I arrived home feeling what I thought was heartburn. While talking to my wife, I lost consciousness. My memory picks up one month later, sitting in the car, watching the pine trees fly by as my wife drove us from Macon to our home in Milledgeville.

Rather than heartburn, I had experienced ventricular tachycardia. Blood stopped flowing. My body shut down. In effect, I died. Had it not been for the quick response of emergency personnel, I would not be alive today. Without the excellent care and assistance of the doctors, the nurses, the therapists, the family liaisons, the administrators and the countless other healthcare workers who have become part of my life, I would not be writing to you today.

I spent a month in the hospital and rehabilitation center in Macon. Although I have no memory of this time, my wife and son share stories of their experiences by my bedside: the comfort of compassionate gestures and the reassurance of careful medical explanations, but also the frustration of poor communication and the gut-wrenching shock of lack of empathy.

My new insight into the healthcare industry has reminded me of the incredible importance of what WE do in the College of Arts & Sciences. Yes, our STEM

majors provide excellent and obvious pathways into healthcare professions. In fact, the first ER doctor to treat me in hospital, Dr. Dennis Holder, is a GCSU COAS alum!

But more than ever before, I now recognize, too, the importance of the humanities, the social sciences and the arts to the healthcare professions. After all, healthcare is about humanity. It is a social concern, a public good. It is also about the individual human experience. It involves ethics, teamwork, critical thinking, analysis and communication, and all the things that we, in this college, are particularly concerned with and adept at teaching and enriching. I am proud and humbled and grateful for the role we in the COAS play in preparing students for these lifegiving professions.

It has been nine months since that day in April (what my wife calls my “hard reboot”). I am still in the process of recovering and thankful for everyone at GCSU who has patiently and persistently helped me in that process. Thanks especially to an excellent and supportive team both in the dean’s office (Anita, Jamie and Winston) and in each of our 13 academic departments, the COAS continues to do what we do best: help students pursue knowledge and truth for the public good.

FROM THE EDITORS Where would we be without music? Is music innate? Is it learned? How can music be taught? If anyone would know, it would be the faculty of our Department of Music.

They work hard to imbue our students with a sense of appreciation for culture, discipline and education through music.

That’s why this issue focuses on our music education program, and specifically the students who find home in its rigorous coursework. They’re supported by fabulous faculty, and their stories are told in our cover

story for this issue, “Raising the bar: where pedagogy and music meet.”

And, as always, thank you for supporting this publication which shares our impact on the lives of students, the impact our college imparts on the community and how our alumni impact the world.

We hope you enjoy this story and more for this (better late than never) 2023 issue.

Here’s to all we do!

CONTENTS COVER | Pictured on the cover: Brooklyn Wucher and Arron Holland

4 | A&S SUCCESS

⊲ Biology major working with sloths in Costa Rica ⊲ Grad student identified algae in North Carolina waters ⊲ Biology students study climate challenges through birds ⊲ Students explore cuisine and culture in Italy and Greece

10 | SCHOLARS IN RESIDENCE ⊲ Autocracy: ‘Don’t go down that path’

12 | COVER STORY

⊲ Raising the bar...

Where pedagogy and music meet

16 | ALUMNI ACCOLADES

⊲ Assistant professor at Yale studies smoking cessation ⊲ Alumna is Fulbright finalist in Greece ⊲ GCSU’s first medical physics student gets full ride ⊲ Renowned photographer brings stories to life

ARTS & SCIENCES WINTER 2023 NEWSLETTER DEAN DR. ERIC TENBUS

PHOTO CREDITS ANNA LEAVITT

EDITORS DR. WINSTON TRIPP KRISTEN SIMPSON

WRITERS KRISTEN SIMPSON CINDY O‘DONNELL MARGARET BROWN

A&S SUCCESS

DEPT. OF BIOLOGY & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

BIOLOGY MAJOR WORKING WITH SLOTHS IN COSTA RICA Pound was selected as part of a small team of students who volunteered to care for sloths, peccaries (pigs), kinkajous (squirrel-like creatures), capuchin and spider monkeys, macaws and other colorful parrots, parakeets and more.

Amelia Pound (center) at the Costa Rica Rescue Center.

 Imagine being up-close and personal with Costa Rican rainforest wildlife.

Senior biology major Amelia Pound of Savannah did just that. For two weeks, she worked alongside veterinarians in Costa Rica, caring for its native creatures.

“After many years of working with animals and knowing the joy I experience with them, being able to help those in need gives me an unparalleled sense of satisfaction,” she said.

“There’s something exciting about the idea of learning and honing my skills for an entire career.”

Pound traveled with the Loop Abroad Pre-Veterinary Wildlife Medicine program—the largest pre-veterinary study abroad program for animal rescue and release in the U.S. She worked at the Costa Rica Rescue Center.

DEPT. OF BIOLOGY & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

GRAD STUDENT IDENTIFIED ALGAE IN NORTH CAROLINA WATERS  In North Carolina this summer, biology graduate Anna Agi, ’23, introduced her water-quality employer to a few things about diatoms—a form of microscopic, single-celled algae with glass cell walls that convert light into energy.

Diatoms generate up to 25% of the earth’s oxygen and are found in almost every aquatic environment from freshwater to the ocean.

“It’s important to get involved in research if you’re in a science background, because it opens your mind and doors to so many opportunities,” Agi said.

“Because I learned so much about diatoms through Dr. Kalina Manoylov's mentoring,” she said, “I was able to make one of my internship projects about diatoms, in order to help the algae team with their own identification after I left.”

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Anna Agi collects algae samples at an internship this summer in North Carolina.

DEPT. OF BIOLOGY & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

BIOLOGY STUDENTS STUDY CLIMATE CHALLENGES THROUGH BIRDS  Studying the health and wellbeing of birds can warn of environmental challenges—some yet unknown—we might face with a changing climate.

Dr. Katie Stumpf and senior Haidee Martinez-Perez check on a birdhouse at Newell Watts House.

That’s one reason Dr. Katie Stumpf has her biology students research various aspects of bird life. Her students have published studies on nest site selection and net avoidance behaviors. Graduate students do research at Panola Mountain State Park in Stockbridge.

“Birds are an excellent indicator of ecosystem health since they’re able to leave quicker due to their ability to fly,” said Mathew Gordon of Thomaston, who just received his degree in biology with a minor in environmental sciences.

“Having a healthy and diverse bird population in any ecosystem promotes other species,” he said. “By studying birds, we’re able to enhance the overall quality of the ecosystems they call home, which in turn will help other populations of species grow and prosper.”

DEPT. OF HISTORY & GEOGRAPHY

STUDENTS EXPLORE CUISINE AND CULTURE IN ITALY AND GREECE  Twelve Georgia College & State University students got a close-up of culture in Italy and Greece this summer.

They experienced new places, tastes and broadened their thinking by learning how local food is produced and processed. The students returned with skills they can use, and a new understanding of how foods help define culture.

“A 19th century writer wrote, ‘Show me what you eat, and I will show you who you are,’” Dr. Craig Pascoe, professor of history, said.

“This is what we do. What people eat reflects their traditions, history, surroundings—what foods they have access to—and environment—how the weather and their location impacts what they can produce.”

Students learn how to make pici pasta from chef and author Pamela Sheldon Johns.

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GC in DC Lanham utilized the “GC in DC” program, guided by Christine Amezquita, assistant director of the university’s Pre-professional and Graduate School Planning program.

The program helped more than 160 students—with majors like mass communication, public health, criminal justice, management and marketing—find internships this summer.

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POLITICAL SCIENCE MAJOR MAKES CONGRESSIONAL INTERN DEPT. OF GOVERNMENT & SOCIOLOGY  Junior Emily Lanham pinpoints the 2016 U.S. Presidential election between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton as the pivotal moment in life that led her to politics.

Little did she know she’d soon be an intern in the nation’s capital, working in U.S. Rep. Rick Allen’s (R-GA) office and rubbing elbows with congressmen in the U.S. House of Representatives.

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Allen oversees District 12 in Georgia—which includes Lanham’s hometown, Augusta.

“I met some amazing fellow interns, staffers and members of Congress,” she said. “This internship has given me the confidence I needed to get involved in what interests me, and it showed me I’m capable of doing more.”

AXEL HAWKINS NAMED

2023 NEWMAN CIVIC FELLOW DEPT. OF HISTORY & GEOGRAPHY  Junior history major, Axel Hawkins, has been named a 2023 Newman Civic Fellow for her outstanding leadership at Georgia College & State University, and in the Milledgeville community.

Campus Compact is a non-profit coalition of colleges and universities dedicated to public purpose in higher education. It selected 154 student leaders nationwide as Newman Civic Fellows for its 2023 cohort.

Hawkins was one of two students in Georgia to be chosen.

“I feel truly honored to be recognized for my commitment to public service. Of course,” Hawkins said, “I don’t take on the work I do for the recognition.”

“But I’m very glad to know that my work stood out and that people have been able to see how much I value leadership for the public good,” she said. “I am very, very thankful to have been given such a unique opportunity.”

AXEL’S COMMITMENT TO CIVIC LEADERSHIP AND IMPROVING OUR COMMUNITIES AND WORLD ARE A SOURCE OF INSPIRATION. - DR. HAROLD MOCK  Axel Hawkins with other members of the GCSU Student Government Association.

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OFFICE OF STUDENT LIFE

STUDENT EARNS HER PLACE IN BOBCAT HISTORY  When rising senior Sydnni Adams stood up for herself, Cindy Trusty noticed.

Trusty, the community director of Foundation Hall and advisor to the Resident Student Association (RSA), nominated Adams for Georgia College & State University’s 2023 Leadership in Moral Courage Bobcat Award. It includes a $1,000 academic scholarship for her diplomatic response to a situation regarding RSA. Adams—the national coordinating chair of the RSA—won the award.

When understaffed, the three RSA executive board members had to take charge of everything to run the organization. When some of Adams’ preferred duties were delegated to new recruits, she remained professional through discussions in which she raised concerns.

“Everyone apologized, and we moved forward,” she said. “There was more communication among everyone in RSA.” “Confrontation doesn't have to be negative—it can always be positive,” Adams said. “I love learning from other people. And I’ve learned that not everyone communicates how I might want them to. So, it's about being respectful of that.”

When Adams graduates with her criminal justice degree in May 2024, she will pursue her master's degree in sports management and a juris doctor. She’d like to be an attorney for MLB, NBA or NFL players or other professional athletes.

Left to right: GCSU President Cathy Cox, Sydnni Adams and Interim VP for Student Life Dr. Dan Nadler

Always go with your gut feeling, even if you’re afraid of the consequences.

— Sydnni Adams DEPT. OF CHEMISTRY, PHYSICS, & ASTRONOMY

UNDERGRADUATE AT DUKE UNIVERSITY  Joel Saucedo’s head is full of nuclear fusion, clean energy, fractional calculus, radioactive particles—and jazz. He plays saxophone in Georgia College & State University’s Jazz Band.

These elements weave together, creating the liberal arts education that Saucedo credits for helping him win a prestigious nuclear physics traineeship at Duke University this summer.

“Georgia College is a hidden gem for hungry undergraduates like me,” he said. “It's a small university that welcomes students with big ideas.”

Joel Saucedo (front) all suited up for lab safety at Duke.

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“It's an environment that's ripe for cultivating new heights of passionate, multidisciplinary practitioners and future leaders in the world,” Saucedo said, “aligned with values our society is in desperate need of.”



Caroline on her first day at Regent's Park College last January.

DEPT. OF HISTORY & GEOGRAPHY

SENIOR EXCELS AT OXFORD UNIVERSITY  Caroline Cole—a senior from Buford, Georgia—says her first love is Georgia College & State University, where she made friends in class and within the Honors College easily.

Here, she’s a history major with minors in museum studies and English. She’s taken difficult classes that fully prepared her for study abroad and the rigors of Oxford University—the oldest English-speaking university in the world.

Cole spent a semester there last spring and will return to Oxford for another semester this fall.

“Truly, my time at Oxford has changed me so much for the better,” she said. “This has been a formative experience for me that has impacted me in deep-seated ways that I can hardly articulate into words.”

SCIENCE EDUCATION CENTER

SOCIAL SERVICE MOTIVATES FUTURE PEDIATRICIAN  Sarah Fix graduated from Konos Academy in Fayetteville with 30 other students. There weren’t any clubs or science labs.

Now she’s graduated Georgia College & State University as a biology major, chemistry minor and with a foundation in pre-med mentoring. She’ll be leaving the university with a legacy of service to the Science Education Center.

She helped lead the center’s STEM education efforts in Middle Georgia,

complementing her dream to become a pediatrician in a rural area.

“Frequently, I sit back and think about who I was freshman year, and it’s kind of crazy how much I’ve grown and changed,” Fix said. “I was very shy, and I think I’d never been given an environment where I could speak up and my opinion was valued.”

“I’m fortunate to have mentors, like Dr. Catrena Lisse and Beth Benson in admissions—those people helped guide me and nurture the power in my voice.”

 Sarah performs science shows in the center’s signature, tie-dyed lab coat.

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SCHOLARS IN RESIDENCE

COVERDELL SCHOLAR

AUTOCRACY: ‘DON’T GO DOWN THAT PATH’ DEPT. OF GOVERNMENT & SOCIOLOGY

F

ew today in the United States have borne the kind of scars Dr. George Kieh has for freedom.

He’s an expert on foreign policy, conflicts, civil wars, global terrorism and genocide. He’s taught politics at six universities, including the University of West Georgia, University of Memphis in Tennessee, Illinois Wesleyan University and Morehouse College in Atlanta.

Born and raised on a rubber plantation in Liberia, Georgia College & State University’s latest Coverdell Visiting Scholar learned about injustice firsthand. His father worked the plantation 35 years, and treatment for laborers could be harsh.

By middle school, Kieh had organized his first social-justice movement. He later became president of the University of Liberia’s Student Government Association. When he was in college in 1979, he was arrested, charged with treason and tortured.

He was imprisoned three months.

After his release, Kieh went to the United States to get his master’s and Ph.D. in political science from Northwestern University. Going back to Liberia in 1983 to research his dissertation— again, Kieh was arrested. This time, he was sent to a maximum-security prison and did four month’s hard labor.

 Dr. Kieh speaks during GCSU’s Constitution Week

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Kieh was imprisoned both times for protesting against his government.

“In an autocracy, you got to go with the program,” Kieh said. “There’s no room for independent views. Eventually, authoritarian regimes consume their own supporters. If you challenge them, you do that at your own peril.”

Kieh spent his long career promoting those very notions.

His subjects range from international relations and comparative political systems to contemporary African politics and democracy.

Right now, he’s on sabbatical from Texas Southern University in Houston, where he was dean of the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs.

His resume is 39 pages long—an illustrious career filled with teaching positions, research, administrative experience, academic memberships, grants received, leadership and teaching awards and many publications of books, book chapters and journals.

As Georgia College’s Coverdell Visiting Scholar—a position that started in 2019 through the College of Arts & Sciences—Kieh is expected to teach a course, lead campus conversations and hold public events.

THE BEST AUTHORITARIAN SYSTEM IS WORSE THAN THE MOST FLAWED DEMOCRATIC SYSTEM. - DR. KIEH

DEMOCRACY IN THE WORLD As Paul D. Coverdell Visiting Scholar, Kieh hosted a conference in November on “Democracy in the World.” Thirteen professors spoke from Georgia College, the University of West Georgia, North Carolina Central University and as far away as California.

As scholar, Kieh hopes to make a case against complacency.

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C OV E R S TO RY

Where pedagogy and music meet

A

few years ago, if you’d told Army veteran and former microbiologist Arron Holland that he would be studying music education at Georgia College & State University, he probably would have laughed.

After 14 years in the military, an injury in Iraq coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic pushed Arron out of the only field he’d known.

And changed the trajectory of his life.

“Coming to campus was like I was colorblind and seeing through corrective lenses for the first time,” Arron said. “I had been wanting to do it and had never quite gotten there.”

“It was happiness, it was jubilee,” he said. “I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but it lit a fire under my behind. It’s been a rollercoaster since day one, and I’m loving it.”

His life has always thrummed to the rhythm of jazz. Arron started playing trombone in third grade and was raised in a family that cherished music.

His father and grandfather were trumpet players and they put jazz in his blood. Alongside his three siblings, also musicians, Arron would play in church and at family reunions.

At some point, life made an about-face and Arron landed in the military. His original idea of making his passion for music into a career drifted, but the music never stopped. Through the ups and downs, the trombone kept him grounded.

“When I needed to clear my head, whatever it was, I would pick up the trombone and play,” Arron said. “It had always been my go-to, my release.”

Searching for his purpose led him to Georgia College, and to music education.

He’s been introduced to Romantic and Baroque music he’s never heard—but no one made him feel like jazz wasn’t valuable. Any instrument he wants to try is available, doctorate-level faculty are approachable and kind, and he’s meeting a diverse array of his peers.

After he graduates, Arron hopes to be a band director in Washington County where he lives with his wife and four children. Ultimately, he wants to shape the curriculum of music education in the state and help middle school kids hang on to the dream he’s finally realizing.

He thinks Georgia College can get him there.

“Every decision that you make as a teacher is going to affect your students for the rest of their lives,” Arron said. “That’s what’s best about this curriculum—you can’t have blinders on, because it’s big picture from day one. It pushes you and shapes you.”

“The degree that I’m receiving here, and going to use in the field, is much more fulfilling than something for financial gain,” he said.

Arron is not the only one putting the fate of their future in the hands of music education at Georgia College. Junior Brooklyn

 Arron Holland

Wucher is applying her work ethic and determination toward making a difference for music students too.

Brooklyn is from Fayetteville, Georgia, where her grandfather inspired her love of music. Primarily, she plays the euphonium (a small tuba) and a few other instruments including the clarinet.

Right now, she works as a brass technician for Baldwin High School. She works directly with brass students by leading each section, building their knowledge foundation and correcting form.

MUSIC IS EXPANDING Construction for a new music facility has been approved and we are in the process of realizing a facility for our music programs. The space will reside on East Montgomery and North Wayne Street, and house practice rooms, additional storage, band practice areas and studios for both percussion and piano.

It will be completed in phases, with phase one including the above and a second phase to add a choral wing in the future.

We hope to have additional updates soon.

She’s had real-world application opportunities since her first year in the program. While she admits it’s tough work, her students’ progress and her own growth propel her forward.

“Part of me was really scared and overwhelmed, but this pushed my drive and the hunger I have for becoming an educator even more than I did when I graduated high school,” Brooklyn said.

“Seeing how successful my professors have been, how successful my grandpa has been, and knowing I can do it reminds me why I’m here.”

“I want to have people coming back to me in 20 years saying I helped them in some way,” she said.

EVERY DECISION THAT YOU MAKE AS A TEACHER IS GOING TO AFFECT YOUR STUDENTS FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIVES. - ARRON HOLLAND

In other words, Brooklyn wants to be like program alumnus Jay Davis, ’00, director of bands at Houston County High School. Originally from Jones County, he’s been the band director at HCHS for nine years, and he’s worked in the field for 23.

“This is what we’re shooting for, getting ensembles into a room conducive for making music and creativity,” said Don Parker, department chair.”

SCAN TO DONATE

 A student of Bobcat Keys, a program for local school children to learn piano—taught by GCSU students.

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 Brooklyn Wucher

 Jay Davis

His band, the Houston County Black and Silver Brigade, is decorated and are past winners of the Exemplary Performance Award from the Georgia Music Educators Association for the 2016-2017 school year.

“I love seeing what kids can achieve in four years after they come in the door unsure of themselves,” Jay said. “I like seeing them grow as people to be better human beings, and I’d like to hope my program has something to do with that.”

He shares the same drive for excellence as his fellow Bobcats. At Georgia College, he played in every band Georgia College had: concert, jazz, chamber ensembles and show choir.

“I wanted to know everything that I could possibly know, to make my teaching better and more beneficial to my students,” Jay said. “Being exposed to different people with different backgrounds and different beliefs made me a better person because it made me much more inquisitive.”

“I think that serves me well now as an educator,” he said.

About 10 students out of his program are majoring in music at college right now.

Music at Georgia College is booming, and students are successful, thanks in no small part to the faculty and Center for Music Education that make it possible. The center, relatively new to the Department of Music, is the driving force behind hands-on involvement for music education students.

The Center organizes workshops, field placements, additional resources for working teachers and more. Everything they do is collected in a knowledge box, giving students a wealth of resources for their studies no matter their grad year.

“Music is a fundamental part of human life, anywhere in the world,” said Dr. Tina Holmes-Davis, assistant professor of music and coordinator of music education. “Music before and throughout history has always been a part of what it means to be human. As music educators, we get to explore and enrich that humanity.”

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ALUMNI ACCOLADES

 Dr. Danielle Davis processes saliva samples which are being tested for nicotine and cotinine (a byproduct of nicotine).

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR AT YALE STUDIES SMOKING CESSATION DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE  When Dr. Danielle Davis, ’14, came to Georgia College & State University, she majored in psychology so she could become a therapist.

Then, Davis discovered her love for research. Her undergraduate work was so impressive that she won the Department of Psychological Science Award for Outstanding Psychology Student three years in a row.

Now, she is an assistant professor at the department of psychiatry in the Yale School of Medicine. She oversees and conducts basic and applied research, assessing tobacco product regulation and cessation among youth and adults.

“We still have so many people who’d like to quit but are unable to,” Davis said. “If there's something, even something small, that I can contribute to help people feel empowered to quit or feel like they're able to take control of their substance use—that’s important to me.”



Dr. Danielle Davis

FINALIST

ALUMNA IS FULBRIGHT FINALIST IN GREECE NATIONAL SCHOLARSHIPS OFFICE AT GEORGIA COLLEGE  Georgia College & State University alumna Anagha Ramakrishnan, ’22, is set to engage in a yearlong cultural exchange in Greece as a finalist for the Fulbright U.S. Student Program.

As a journalist with bylines in the Atlanta JournalConstitution and who fact-checks stories for CNN, Ramakrishnan will travel to the cradle of Western Civilization to explore the underpinnings of communication, research the roots of democracy and teach local students.

“Greece is the starting point for theatre, comedy, drama, politics, democracy and where communication really sparked up with Aristotle's theories of persuasion,” Ramakrishnan said. “To be in an area where those theories and practices were born out of and to experience that firsthand will truly help me become a stronger communicator and a stronger storyteller, which is my ultimate goal.”



Anagha Ramakrishnan

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GCSU’S FIRST MEDICAL PHYSICS STUDENT GETS FULL RIDE DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY, PHYSICS, & ASTRONOMY  Thanks to Georgia College & State University’s new medical physics program, this graduate’s future is off to a healthy start.

Kaylee Kallam of Cumming was Georgia College’s first student to complete its new medical physics pathway. Now, she’s been accepted into the University of Tennessee’s Medical Physics master’s program with a full assistantship teaching position, tuition waived and a monthly stipend.

ABOUT THE

MEDICAL PHYSICS CONCENTRATION The Medical Physics concentration is designed to prepare students to enter graduate programs in medical physics. The concentration includes anatomy and physiology coursework which is its primary addition to the general physics curriculum.

Medical Physics provides a career path for physicists to assist in the recovery and treatment of medical patients in hospital settings by means of their knowledge of radiation treatment and safety.

I FEEL VERY PREPARED BASED ON THE CLASSES I TOOK AND THE RESOURCES I WAS GIVEN AT GEORGIA COLLEGE. - KAYLEE KALLAM Kaylee Kallam

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José Ibarra Rizo

RENOWNED PHOTOGRAPHER BRINGS STORIES TO LIFE DEPARTMENT OF ART  José Ibarra Rizo, ’14, captured a high-school Mariachi band in photographic portraits for Rolling Stone.

The band holds a special meaning for their home city: Uvalde, Texas. The students, their music director and the music they make affirm cultural values and brought the city’s residents together following a tragic mass shooting in May 2022.

“I had to get to know them and understand their perspectives and interests, like performing Mariachi,” Ibarra Rizo said.

He captures memories through the integrity of his photographs—something he developed at Georgia College & State University. He works hard, so individuals can cherish moments-in-time using his artwork.

“It's important in my profession and my other career as an artist to always learn new things and push for excellence,” Ibarra Rizo said. “Creating images is about storytelling. It's about using photos to share with a wider audience what someone else’s reality looks like—essentially to see the humanity in ourselves.”

“We have that relationship and understanding of what we're doing by showing the world that they're uplifting themselves through their music,” he said. “Their strength and willingness to persevere shows through in the photos.”

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COLLEGE OF

ARTS & SCIENCES WINTER 2023 NEWSLETTER